FROM  THE 

CONNECTICUT  NEW  CHURCH  ASSOCIATION. 
NEW  HAVEN,  CONN. 


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PRINCETON,  N.  J. 


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THE  WORD 

AND    ITS 

INSPIRATION 

/ 

ORIGINALLY   WRITTEN   AND    PUBLISHED  IN   ENGLAND   IN   THE  YEAR    1850, 
BY   THE   LAajE 

REV'D  E.  D.RENDELL, 

UNDER  THE  TITLE    OF   "  ANTEDILUVIAN    HISTORY." 


WITH  A  NARRATIVE  OF  THE   FLOOD  AS  SET  FORTH    IN  THE    EARLY 
PORTIONS  OF  THE 

BOOK  OF  GENESIS, 

CRITICALLY    EXAMINED   AS   TO    ITS    LITERAL   SENSE   AND 
EXPLAINED  AS  TO  ITS  SPIRITUAL  TEACHING 


SCIENCE    OF    CORRESPONDENCE, 

AS  REVEALED  BY  EMANUEL  SWEDENBORG  IN  HIS  GREAT  WORK, 
"THE  ARCANA  COELESTIA." 


APPENDIX 

FROM  THE  WRITINGS  OF   EMANUEL  SWEDENBORG,    AS   TO  THE  ORIGIN   OF  THE 
SCIENCE    OF    CORRESPONDENCE. 

And    I  enw   in   the  right    hand   of  him   that   sot   on  the  throne  a   book   written 
within  and  on  the  back  side,  sealed  ivith  seven  seals. — Rev.  v,  1. 


VOLUME    I. 

FROM    THE    SECOND    ENGLISH    EDITION. 


PUBLISHED  BY 

CONNECTICUT  NEW  CHURCH   ASSOCIATION, 

NEV/   HAVEN,  CONN. 

1899. 


Copyright,  1899, 

BY   THE 

Connecticut  New  Chukch  Association. 


WM.   F.    FELL   &   CO., 

ELECTROTVPERS     AND    PRINTEHS, 

1330-34    SANSOM     STREET, 

PHILADELPHIA. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 
i'UEFACE,        V 

Preface  to  the  Second  Edition, xviii 

Chapter  I. 
lutroduction — General  Structure  of  the  Narrative, 1 

Chapter  II. 
General  Structure  of  the  Narrative,  continued, 19 

Chapter  III. 
Original  State  of  Man — The  Successive  Development  of  his  Mental  and 
Spiritual  Powers — His  Duty  and  Prerogative  as  an  Image  of  God — 
The  Excellency  of  Everything  tliat  was  made 30 

Chapter  IV. 
The  Seventh  Day,  a  Celestial  State  of  Man, 54 

Chapter  V. 
Adam  a  Religious  Community — Eden,  with  its  Garden  and  Eastern 

Situation— How  to  be  kept, 61 

Chapter  VI. 
The  Trees  of  the  Garden  :  specifically  the  Tree  of  Life,  and  the  Tree  of 

Knowledge  of  Good  and  Evil,  .    .    .    .' 7(j 

Chapter  VII. 
The  River  of  Eden,  and  its  being  parted  into  Four  Heads, 85 

Chapter  VIII. 
Adam  naming  the  Living  Creatures, 97 

Chapter  IX. 
Its  not  being  good  that  Adam  should  be  alone — His  Deep  Sleep — The 

taking  of  a  Rib  from  him,  and  building  it  into  a  Woman,     ....    108 

Chapter  X. 

The  Sorpent  and  its  Deception, 118 

iii 


IV  CONTENTS. 

Chapter  XI.  „.  „ 

PAGE 

The  Eating  of  the  Forbidden  Fruit,  and  Expulsion  from  Eden,  ....    139 

Chapter  XII. 
Tlie  Curse  upon  the  Serpent  —The  Sorrows  of  the  Woman— And  the 

Curse  upon  the  Ground  for  Man's  Sake, 149 

Chapter  XIII. 
Cain  and  A1)el,  with  their  Occupations, 162 

Chapter  XIV. 
The  Offerings  of  Cain  and   Abel :   why  the  offering  of  Abel  was  re- 
spected, and  that  of  Cain  rejected, 179 

Chapter  XV. 
The  Death  of  Abel— The  Curse  on  Cain  ;   his  Fugitive  and  Vagabond 

Condition,      190 

Chapter  XVI. 
Cain's  Complaint  and  Apprehensions— The  Mark  set  upon  him  for  his 

Preservation, 205 

Chapter  XVII. 
The  Land  of  Nod— Cain's  Son- The  Building  of  a  City,  and  calling  it 

after  the  Name  of  his  Son  Enoch, 219 

Chapter  XVI II. 
The   Birth   of    Seth— Tlie    Longevity   of    his    Descendants— And    the 

"Translation"  of  Enoch,      236 

Chapter  XIX. 
The  Corruptions  of  the  Antediluvian  World— The  Sons  of  God  taking 

to  themselves  Wives  of  the  Daughters  of  ]\Ian, 253 

Chapter  XX. 
The  Giants  that  were  in  tlie  Antediluvian  World— And  the  Repentance 

of  the  Lord  that  he  had  made  Man, 272 

Chapter  XXI. 

The  Ark — Noah  and  his  Family  entering  into  it— The  Beasts  preserved 

therein, 287 

Chapter  XXII. 

The  Deluge,  and  the  Death  of  all  Flesh  but  those  who  entered  into  the 

Ark, 313 


PREFACE. 


A  satisfactory  explanation  of  the  early  chapters  of  Genesis 
has  become  a  desideratum  in  the  Church;  for  there  is  no  fact 
better  established  than  that  the  Mosaic  accounts  of  the  Creation 
and  the  Deluge  are  no  longer  considered  to  express  those  senti- 
ments which  for  many  ages  they  have  been  supposed  to  do. 
What  used  to  be  regarded  as  "orthodox,"  upon  those  subjects, 
has  been  compelled  to  recede  before  the  light  of  rational  inves- 
tigation and  scientific  discovery.  This  is  admitted  by  men  of 
eminence, — by  minds  stored  with  erudition  and  piety, — per- 
sons whose  veneration  for,  and  belief  in,  revelation  are  far 
above  suspicion; — professors  in  our  national  universities,  and 
other  institutions  for  the  dissemination  of  religion  and  learn- 
ing. A  decree,  therefore,  has  gone  forth  against  the  old 
notions  upon  these  subjects:  the  old  vessels  have  been  effectu- 
ally broken;  and  all  who  carefully  examine  the  fragments  are 
convinced  that  it  is  impossible  to  repair  them.  It  is  true  that 
several  new  systems  have  been  formed  on  some  modified  ideas 
of  the  literal  sense  of  those  ancient  writings;  but  an  intelligent 
inspection  of  them  has  shown  that  they  also  are  marred  and 
full  of  flaws;  so  that  there  has  ceased  to  be  any  authorized  in- 
terpretation of  those  extraordinary  documents. 

In  this  dilemma,  the  old  opinions  continue  to  be  taught  to 
the  rising  generations;  and  so  their  minds  are  prejudiced  in 
favour  of  a  mistaken  judgment.     This,  doubtless,  produces  no 
little  uneasiness  and  alarm  among  those  who  know  them  to  be, 
untrue.     The  influences  which  have  exposed  the  errors  have 

V 


Vi  PKEFAC'E. 

not  yet  become  sufficiently  i)Owerful  to  clieck  their  progress. 
This  is  to  be  lamented;  but  it  is  one  of  the  consequences  of 
objectors  not  offering  such  improved  interpretations  as  can  be 
safely  adopted  in  the  place  of  those  which  are  discarded.  The 
old  errors  may  as  well  be  taught  as  any  new  one,  if  teachings 
must  be  enforced  on  the  subject  before  any  more  satisfactory 
views  can  be  established.  But  why  the  teaching  of  demon- 
strated errors  should  be  persisted  in  it  is  difficult  to  say.  It 
is  admitted  that  the  work  of  him  who  would  instruct  society 
is  not  completed  by  pulling  down  the  building  which  he  has 
discovered  to  be  dangerous:  he  is  not  to  make  a  ruin,  and  then 
to  leave  it.  In  the  case  before  us,  the  materials  remain;  and 
he  is  required  to  erect  with  them  another  building,  which  shall 
be  more  sound  and  useful  in  every  particular.  The  distin- 
guished men  above  alluded  to  have  not  neglected  this  duty, 
but  they  have  not  been  successful  in  its  performance.  This  is 
evident  from  the  circumstance  of  their  respective  views  not 
having  satisfied  each  other  or  the  public.  The  reason  of  this 
failure,  it  is  believed,  is  traceal)le  to  a  misunderstanding  of  the 
structure  and  purpose  of  those  remarkable  narratives;  i.  c,  to 
the  supposition  that  they  treat  of  mundane  things. 

The  following  work  is  constructed  on  an  entirely  different 
principle.  It  has  no  pretensions  to  originality,  nor  does  it 
profess  to  offer  a  complete  exposition  of  the  subjects.  The 
writer  is  sensible  of  many  of  its  deficiencies,  both  in  these  and 
in  other  respects.  His  aim  has  been  to  indicate  a  course  of 
thinking  which,  if  jiursued  by  abler  minds,  may  lead  to  a 
more  satisfactory  treatment.  A  general  outline  of  the  meaning 
of  those  remarkable  documents  is  all  that  he  has  intended  to 
{present;  and  this,  of  course,  ma}^  be  filled  up  with  such  light, 
shade,  and  colouring  as  the  intelligence  and  experience  of  the 
reader  are  capable  of  supplying. 

Ho  holds  that  the  real  divinity  of  those  extraordinary  por- 


PREFACE.  Vll 

tions  of  revelation  can  be  most  satisfactorily  maintained,  with- 
out making  any  concessions  to  opinions  which  are  offensive  to 
religion,  or  to  judicious  and  rational  thinking.  The  adoption 
of  new  sentiments  concerning  them  need  not  decrease  piety  or 
weaken  faith:  if  they  expel  error  and  destroy  superstition,  their 
uses  will  be  great.  Those  who,  when  some  new  truth  is 
demonstrated  to  then),  abandon  a  prejudice  which  they  had 
thought  to  be  an  opinion,  come  thereby  into  greater  liberty  and 
purer  light. 

The  interpretation  Avhich  is  presented  in  this  work  of  the 
first  seven  chapters  of  Genesis  is  founded  on  the  following 
general  principle;  namely,  that  the  letter  of  the  ^^^ord  of  God 
contains  within  it  a  spiritual  sense,  which  is  as  its  life  and 
soul.  This  principle,  it  is  believed,  will  commend  itself  to  the 
soundest  judgment  and  best  feelings  of  religious  and  thinking 
men.  Evidences  of  the  existence  of  this  i:)rinciple  can  be  pro- 
duced from  every  page  of  the  sacred  volume;  and  it  is  ration- 
ally confirmed  by  the  circumstance  that,  as  a  work  of  God,  it 
must,  to  be  in  analogy  with  all  His  other  works,  contain  within 
it  something  more  than  that  which  appears  upon  the  surface, 
and  something  different  therefrom. 

It  is  plain  that  there  must  be  a  connection  between  the 
natural  and  the  spiritual  worlds;  and  that  all  things  in  the 
former  derive  their  existence,  more  or  less  remotely,  from  some 
condition  and  activity  in  the  latter.  Now,  as  God's  primary 
object  in  making  a  revelation  to  man  is  to  furnish  him  with 
the  means  of  knowing  something  concerning  spiritual  things,  it 
is  conceived  that  he  has  caused  to  be  employed,  in  the  writing 
of  .His  Word,  the  visible  objects  of  nature,  to  express  the 
spiritual  things  to  Avhich  they  are  related.  Thus,  that  the 
earth  in  general,  as  the  dwelling-place  for  man's  body,  is  the 
appropriate  symbol  of  that  state  in  general  which  is  the  resi- 
dence of  his  soul;  and  that  all  the  various  productions  of  the 


Vlll  PREFACE. 


earth  which  the  Scriptures  mention,  whether  of  the  animal, 
the  vegetable,  or  the  mineral  kingdoms,  are  the  types  of  some 
corresponding  principle  of  affection  and  thought  belonging  to 
such  state,  and,  consequently,  are  significant  of  them. 

Besides  this  law  of  correspondences,  according  to  which  it  is 
believed  the  Scriptures  are  written,  and  from  which  their  char- 
acter as  a  revelation,  and  their  quality  as  to  inspiration,  derive 
the  most  ample  and  satisfactory  evidence,  there  are  also  em- 
ployed, in  their  structure  and  composition,  representatives, 
also  significant.  Among  these  representative  objects,  persons 
are  very  conspicuous;  such,  for  example,  as  the  sons  of  Jacob, 
the  Priests,  the  Kings  of  Israel  and  Judah,  the  Pharaohs  of 
Egypt,  the  Prophets,  and  others.  All  these  are  considered  to 
be  mentioned  in  the  Scriptures,  and  to  have  their  histories 
therein  related,  because  they  Avere  designed  to  represent  some- 
thing pertaining  to  the  Lord's  Church  and  kingdom.  This 
idea  is,  in  some  measure,  acknowledged,  in  the  circumstance 
of  many  of  these  persons  being  commonly  spoken  of  as  types. 
Every  one,  for  instance,  is  aware  that  Joseph,  who  was  sold 
into  Egypt,  was,  in  consequence  of  certain  remarkable  incidents 
in  his  life,  representative  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  during  His 
manifestation  in  the  world.  The  law  under  which  those  rep- 
resentatives were  selected  did  not  at  all  regard  the  quality  of 
the  person  representing,  but  solely  the  thing  to  be  represented; 
all  the  objects,  tlicrefore,  which  correspond  to  Divine  and 
spiritual  things  are  also  representatives  of  them;  and  what  is 
represented  is  likewise  signified. 

The  distinction  between  correspondences  and  representatives' 
is,  that  correspondence  consists  in  the  mutual  relation  Avhich 
prevails  between  an  efficient  cause  and  its  orderly  effect. 
Thus,  whatever  exists  and  subsists  in  the  natural  world  from 
the  spiritual,  is  called  correspondence.  But  representatives 
are  all  external  things  which  are  employed  to  give  expression 


PREFACE.  IX 

to  internal  things,  and  which  may  or  may  not  correspond. 
Thus  all  correspondents  are  representatives;  but  all  representa- 
tives do  not  correspond.  For  instance,  when  the  expression 
and  structure  of  the  face  act  in  unity  with  the  affections  and 
sentiments  which  exist  in  the  mind,  there  is  a  correspondence 
between  them;  but  when  the  face  does  not  act  in  such  unity,  it 
then  only  represents.  The  kings,  priests,  and  prophets,  are 
said  to  represent  Divine  and  holy  things,  not  because  they  were 
Divine  and  holy,  but  because  in  their  governmental,  priestly, 
and  prophetical  offices,  they  were,  to  the  natural  minds  of  the 
Israelites,  that  which  they  conceived  of  things  Divine  and 
holy. 

Such  are  the  principles  which  are  believed  to  have  presided 
over  the  construction  of  the  literal  sense  of  God's  most  holy 
Word,  and  of  which  illustrative  examples  are  presented  in  the 
following  work.  If  the  things  mentioned  in  the  Scriptures 
were  not  representative,  and  thence  significative,  of  holy  and 
spiritual  subjects,  it  would  not  be  easy  to  see  how  a  rational 
idea  of  their  Divine  character  could  be  formed;  but  with  such  a 
view  of  them,  man  may  have  some  perception  of  their  great 
sanctity  and  spiritual  uses.  Indeed,  it  seems  difficult  to  see 
how  Divine  ideas  could  have  been  enunciated  in  any  other  way 
than  by  means  of  those  human  ideas,  worldly  objects  and 
expressions,  which  are  in  correspondence  with,  or  the  represen- 
tatives of,  spiritual  and  heavenly  things. 

But  while  this  is  regarded  as  a  feature  peculiar  to  God's 
revelation,  and,  in  our  opinion,  necessary  to  the  ideas  of  its 
Divine  origin  and  inspiration,  it  is  to  be  observed  that  it  is  a 
principle  which  will  admit  of  a  diversity  of  literal  structure; 
and,  consequently,  such  a  structure  has  always  been  employed 
as  was  in  agreement  with  the  characteristics  of  the  people  to 
whom  it  was  originally  vouchsafed.  Hence  has  arisen  that 
variety  of  style  according  to  which  different  portions  of  the 


X  PREFACE. 

Sacred  Scrii)tures  are  written.  This  circumstance  is  more  or 
less  conspicuous  in  all  the  different  books  of  the  ^^'ord.  There 
are,  however,  four  great  distinctions  of  style  by  which  the 
Scriptures  now  in  our  possession  are  distinguished.  These 
are — 

First,  that  which  is  intended  to  express  spiritual  and  celes- 
tial things  only,  through  the  instrumentality  of  an  appropriate 
selection  and  arrangement  of  terrestrial  and  worldly  objects. 
This  Ave  regard  as  the  primitive  Divine  style,  and  consider  it  to 
have  taken  its  rise  with  the  perceptions  of  the  aborigines  of  our 
race  during  the  periods  of  their  religious  integrity.  To  them, 
at  that  time,  it  is  believed  that  the  objects  of  the  visible  world 
were  as  an  open  book,  in  which  they  could  perceive  Divine  and 
holy  things  represented;  and  therefore,  when  treating  of 
spiritual  things,  they  would  arrange  their  thoughts  concerning 
them  into  a  kind  of  historical  series,  in  order  to  render  them 
forcible  and  vivid.  This  we  hold  to  be  the  style  of  the  first 
eleven  chapters  of  Genesis,  or  rather,  up  to  the  14th  verse  of 
the  eleventh  chapter;  and  it  is  in  consequence  of  men  in  later 
ages  not  having  attended  to  this  remarkable  genius  of  that  most 
ancient  people,  that  those  early  portions  of  the  book  of  Genesis 
have  been  considered  so  exceedingly  difficult  to  understand. 

The  Second  Style  is  historical,  and  treats,  in  the  letter,  of 
such  facts  and  occurrences  as,  from  the  time  of  Abram,  are 
recorded  in  those  books  commonly  called  historical.  Neverthe- 
less, this  style,  like  the  former,  is  replete  with  an  internal  or 
spiritual  sense.  Historicarcircumstanccs  began  to  be  employed 
for  the  purpose  of  representing  sjnritual  things  when  mankind, 
and  especially  the  descendants  of  Abram,  to  whom  those  docu- 
ments, with  the  exception  of  the  book  of  Job,  were  originally 
vouchsafed,  had  sunk  into  a  merely  sensual  and  selfish  state. 
Job  is  evidently  a  more  ancient  book,  produced,  in  all  proba- 
bility, upi^n  tlie  plan  of  the  factitious  history  of  the   first  style 


PREFACE.  XI 

of  revelation,  though  it  does  not  appear  to  be  so  complete  and 
regular  in  its  structure. 

The  Third  Style  is  the  prophetical.  This  also  appears  to 
have  derived  its  condition  from  the  factitious  histories  of  the 
primitive  people:  not  that  it  puts  on  an  historical  aspect,  or 
that  it  is,  like  them,  connected  in  an  historical  series;  for  it  is 
well  known  to  be  much  broken  and  interrupted,  and  likewise 
to  contain  many  statements  which,  in  the  literal  sense,  are 
scarcely  intelligible:  still,  in  their  internal  sense  throughout, 
there  are  expressed  in  an  orderly  series,  sentiments  of  a  purely 
spiritual  character. 

The  Fourth  Style  is  the  Psalms.  These,  as  may  be  easih^ 
seen,  partake  of  an  intermediate  form  between  the  prophetical 
and  that  of  ordinary  speech,  and  they  treat  of  the  internal  states 
and  religious  experience  of  all  those  who  are  within  the  pale  of 
the  Lord's  Church. 

That  these  are  just  views  of  the  style  of  the  Psalms,  with  the 
prophetical  and  historical  portions  of  the  Holy  Word,  we  think 
can  hardly  be  disputed;  and  although  what  is  stated  to  be  the 
style  of  those  parts  which  precede  the  time  of  Abram  is  equally 
true;  yet,  because  that  point  may  not  be  so  readily  perceived, 
it  was  deemed  requisite  to  dwell  a  little  thereon  in  the  introduc- 
tory chapter  of  the  following  work.  To  what  is  there  stated  we 
are  desirous  to  add  one  or  two  other  considerations. 

It  seems  evident  that  the  Lord,  in  causing  a  revelation  to  be 
made  to  man  of  spiritual  and  heavenly  wisdom,  has  had  respect 
to  the  genius  and  disposition  of  the  people  to  whom  it  w^as 
vouchsafed.  We  gather  this  view  from  the  facts  which  are 
apparent  in  what  are  emphatically  called  the  Jewish  Scriptures. 
From  them  it  is  plain  that  the  letter  of  the  revelations  relating 
to  that  people,  and  of  which  they  were  made  the  depositories, 
was  constructed,  as  we  find  it  to  be,  in  consequence  of  their 
remarkable  condition.     Thev  were  a  most  external  and  sensual 


Xll  PREFACE. 

people;  and  therefore  the  revelation,  which  in  its  external  form 
is  peculiarly  theirs,  partook  of  that  historical  and  worldly  char- 
acter by  which  it  is  distinguished.  This  was  all  that  they  ap- 
preciated. Of  spiritual  things  they  had  but  little  conception, 
and  scarcely  any  care. 

Now,  if  it  be  true  that  the  literal  structure  of  revelation  has 
always  been  in  conformity  with  the  genius  of  the  peojjle  to 
whom  it  has  been  made;  if  it  be  true  that  the  most  external 
style  of  revelation  to  be  found  in  the  Bible  was  adopted  in  con- 
sequence of  the  sensual  condition  of  the  Jewish  people  to 
whom  it  was  committed;  then  it  will  follow  that  the  revela- 
tion granted  to  a  superior  people  could  not  have  been  of  so 
external  a  character.  If  the  genius  of  the  people  among 
whom  the  early  portions  of  the  book  of  Genesis  were  produced 
were  eminently  spiritual,  and  if  the  narratives  be  constructed 
in  conformity  with  such  character,  then  it  is  plain  that  the 
literal  sense  of  that  revelation  must  be  dii?erent,  and  ought  to 
be  differently  understood,  from  that  which  has  been  vouch- 
safed to  the  descendants  of  Abram.  It  seems  contrary  to  all 
just  criticism  to' suppose  that  the  literal  form  of  the  revelation 
which  was  granted  to  a  people  who  were  acquainted  Avith 
spiritual  things  is  the  same  as  that  given  to  a  community  who 
were  utterly  ignorant  of  them.  We  therefore  hold  that  their 
external  structure  must  be  differently  understood,  nor  can  we 
perceive  the  reasonableness  of  any  contrary  conclusion. 

It  is  admitted  that  the  first  eleven  chapters  of  Genesis  were 
produced  among  a  people  who  flourished'  long  anterior  to  the 
time  of  Abram,  and  there  is  much  reason  to  believe  that  they 
were  originated  in  those  periods  of  which  poets  and  philoso- 
phers have  spoken  of  as  the  siher  age, — an  age  in  which  an 
Asiatic  people  were  spiritually  intelligent  because  they  studied 
interior  truths,  and  were  also  acquainted  with  those  outer  things 
in  nature  which  were  the  symbols  of  them;  an  age,  therefore, 


PREFACE.  Xm 

in  which  mankind  would  speak  of  spiritual  subjects  by  means 
of  those  things  they  knew  to  be  their  representatives  in  the 
world. 

Without  extending  these  remarks,  it  is  evident  that  the 
earliest  narratives  of  antiquity  were  written  in  a  style  that  was 
highly  figurative;  and  this  was  a  peculiarity  belonging  not  to 
the  history  of  one  nation  merely,  but  to-  all  which  have  any 
pretensions  to  a  record  of  their  origin.  Upon  what  principle, 
then,  can  this  character  be  denied  to  that  early  history  in  the 
Bible  which  precedes  the  time  of  Abram  ?  It  cannot  be  be- 
cause the  literal  sense  of  those  documents  is  plain  and  easily  to 
be  comprehended  !  for  when  viewed  as  actual  history,  they  are 
full  of  great  and  astounding  difficulties,  which  no  learning  that 
has  hitherto  been  exercised  upon  them  has  been  capable  of  sat- 
isfactorily explaining.  If  the  genius  of  the  people  who  lived  in 
remote  antiquity  were  such  as  we  have  indicated,  and  if  those 
narratives  were  produced  among  them,  then  they  must  have 
partaken  of  that  genius;  if  they  did  not,  they  could  not  have 
been  serviceable  to  them  or  instrumental  in  transmitting  to  pos- 
terity any  just  notions  of  that  disposition  and  general  turn  of 
mind  by  which  they  were  distinguished. 

Most  persons  will  admit  that  the  minds  of  mankind  during 
the  purity  of  the  Adamic  periods  were  influenced  by  very  in- 
terior and  elevated  sentiments;  the  affections  of  their  wills  were 
doubtless  directed  towards  the  Lord,  and  their  understandings 
were  enlightened  by  thoughts  concerning  Him.  In  such  an 
intellectual  condition  nature  must  have  been  a  sort  of  mirror 
reflecting  internal  and  spiritual  ideas.  It  is  easy  to  conceive 
that  such  minds  would  regard  the  worldly  things  by  which 
they  were  surrounded  as  the  symbol  of  some  internal  state, 
spiritual  experience,  or  heavenly  ideas,  belonging  to  the  Lord 
and  his  kingdom.     This,  indeed,  would  enable  them — 

"  To  look  througli  Nature  Tip  to  Nature's  God," 


XIV  PREFACE. 

and  behold,  in  all  its  objects,  the  expressive  types  of  spiritual 
realities.  To  such  minds  creation  must  have  been  a  rich  dis- 
play of  objects,  representing  interior  things  pertaining  to  the 
Creator.  When  the  people,  distinguished  by  such  a  state, 
spoke  of  natural  things,  their  ideas  concerning  them  would,  as 
it  were,  recede,  and  give  place  to  spiritual  conceptions.  When 
they  undertook  to  describe  spiritual  and  holy  subjects,  they 
would  select  and  arrange  for  that  purpose  such  temporal  and 
natural  objects  as  they  knew  would  accurately  represent  them. 
If  these  views  be  correct, — and  we  think  they  are  admissive  of 
satisfactory  proof, — then  it  is  evident  that  the  literal  sense  of 
documents  constructed  upon  those  principles,  was  only  a  kind 
of  vehicle  for  the  signification  of  something  else,  and  that  its 
genuine  meaning  must  have  laid  within,  as  a  jewel  within  its 
casket. 

If  such  a  people  undertook  to  record  the  moral  and  spiritual 
things  which  they  experienced,  according  to  the  successive 
series  in  which  they  had  transpired,  it  seems  plain  that  they 
would  do  it  by  the  arrangement  of  representative  objects  into 
an  historical  form.  Such  we  conceive  to  have  been  the  genius 
of  the  people  among  whom  the  first  eleven  chapters  of  Genesis 
were  produced,  and  such  the  circumstances  which  influenced 
their  construction;  those  documents,  therefore,  are  not  to  be 
understood  according  to  their  literal  sense,  they  being  factitious 
history,  intended  to  express,  by  correspondence  and  representa- 
tion, only  internal  and  spiritual  things. 

Distinguished  authority  for  these  views  could  be  cited,  and 
much  corroborative  evidence  and  reasonings  proceeded  with; 
but  it  is  not  convenient  to  lengthen  these  remarks.  Enough 
may  have  been  said  to  commend  the  subject  to  the  careful  con- 
sideration of  those  who  may  be  interested  in  such  an  inquiry. 
It  shows  the  principles  on  which  the  following  work  has  been 
written,  and  to  that  the  reader  is  respectfully  referred  for  addi- 


PREFACE.  XV 

tional  testimony  and  illustration.  The  religious  connections  of 
the  writer  will  know  the  source  whence  these  opinions  have 
been  suggested;  to  them,  therefore,  no  explanation  on  this 
head  is  necessary:  and  it  is  presumed,  that  those  who  may  be 
favourably  impressed  with  them,  after  the  perusal  of  the 
work,  will  find  no  difficulty  in  going  directly  to  the  same 
spring. 

It  may,  perhaps,  be  necessar}'  to  offer  some  explanation  of 
the  circumstances  which  have  led  to  this  publication;  and  also 
to  apologize  for  defects,  which  might  not  have  occurred  if  it 
had  been  produced  independently  of  them. 

The  materials  for  this  work  were,  for  the  most  part,  origin- 
ally collected  and  arranged  in  the  form  of  lectures,  which  were 
delivered  with  some  advantages  to  the  church  of  which  the 
writer  is  a  member.  These  circumstances  led  to  a  request  for 
re-delivering  them  elsewhere,  and,  subsequently,  to  the  expres- 
sion of  earnest  wishes  for  their  publication.  The  author  knew 
that  they  had  been  instrumental  in  rescuing  from  disbelief  some 
who  had  long  been  doubting  the  truth  of  revelation;  also,  that 
they  had  afforded  others  more  satisfactory  evidence  of  the 
Divine  origin  and  character  of  the  early  chapters  of  Genesis 
than  they  had  previously  possessed;  and  that  they  had  assisted 
many  in  consolidating  their  faith  in  the  holiness  and  sanctity 
of  God's  holy  Word.  As  these  advantages,  under  the  Divine 
Providence,  had  arisen  from  their  oral  delivery,  he  was  induced 
to  hope  that  their  publication  might  be  followed  by  some 
farther  usefulness,  and  therefore  consented  to  the  suggestion  of 
his  friends.  He  is  not  aware  that  there  is  any  similar  publica- 
tion extant;  and  this  led  him  to  think  that  such  a  work  might 
be  generally  acceptable  to  his  OAvn  religious  connections,  as  well 
as  being,  in  some  measure,  serviceable  to  the  public  at  large. 
Such  are  the  circumstances  which  have  led  to  the  present  pub- 
lication, and  it  is  hoped   that  it  may  supply,  however  feebly, 


XVI  PREFACE. 

suinething  for  an  unoccupied  niche  in   the  editice  of  true  relig- 
ious literature. 

But  as  to  the  execution.  It  was  felt  that  their  character,  as 
lectures,  would  not  be  so  attractive  or  so  generally  acceptable 
as  some  other  form  that  might  be  adopted.  Hence  it  was  de- 
termined to  rearrange  the  matter  into  the  shape  in  which  it  now 
appears.  To  do  this  was  not  unattended  with  difficulties. 
For  the  sake  of  the  judgments  of  those  at  whose  suggestion  the 
publication  was  undertaken,  the  original  features  of  the  Avork 
could  not  be  entirely  sacrificed;  and  yet,  with  the  view  of  pro- 
viding something  that  might  survive  a  mere  temporary  interest, 
some  change  Avas  necessary.  To  accomplish  })oth  these  objects, 
he  has  been  compelled  to  admit  some  blemishes  in  arrange- 
ment, some  peculiarities  of  treatment,  and  a  few  repetitions: 
for  these  the  indulgence  of  the  reader  is  requested.  The  notes 
are  fresh  matter,  whi(^h  it  is  hoped  will  add  to  the  usefulness  of 
the  work. 

For  the  general  scope  and  design  of  this  publication  the 
author  has  no  aj^olog}^  to  offer,  no  indulgence  to  ask,  no  solici- 
tude to  express:  feeling  assured  that  a  plain  enunciation  of 
spiritual  truth  has  been  aimed  at,  and  sincerely  l)elieving  in  the 
i-eligious  soundness  of  the  grounds  which  have  been  taken  for 
it,  he  is  content  to  leave  the  result  in  the  hands  of  that  wise 
Providence  which,  in  superintending  the  greatest  things  of  the 
universe,  does  not  overlook  the  humblest  efforts  which  are 
undertaken  in  the  cause  of  Truth. 

In  conclusion,  it  may  be  o)>served  that  if  this  work  had  been 
written  for  his  own  religious  connections  merely,  the  author 
would,  in  many  instances,  have  adopted  another  mode  of  treat- 
ment and  expression;  but  as  it  was  designed  for  more  general 
use,  he  has  considered  it  proper  to  avoid,  so  far  as  convenient, 
all  the  appearances  of  technicality,  and  to  present  the  subjects 
in  as  popular  a  form  as  he  thought  their  recondite  character 
would  permit. 


PREFACE.  XVll 

The  Postdiluvian  History  to  the  call  of  Abram  is  eminently 
interesting,  and  should  this  work  prove  acceptable,  the  author 
will  feel  encouraged  to  undertake  its  elucidation  in  a  similar 
volume.  * 

Pkeston, 
November  25,  1850. 

*  This  has  been  done,  and  may  be  had  of  HoDSON  AND  Son,  22,  Portugal 
Street,  Lincohi's  Inn,  London. 


PREFACE  TO  THE  SECOND  EDITION. 


The  First  Edition  of  this  work,  published  in  1850,  was  sold 
in  twelve  months;  it  has  since  been  reprinted  in  America,  and 
translated  into  French.  These  circumstances  have  encouraged 
the  author  to  suppose  that  his  labours  have  been  useful  in  sug- 
gesting expositions  of  the  Mosaic  narrative  deserving  of  some 
thoughtful  attention.  A  Second  Edition  is  now  issued,  in  con- 
sequence of  repeated  assurances  that  it  has  been  desired  by  no 
inconsiderable  number  of  the  public,  together  with  the  expres- 
sion of  a  belief  that  it  may  assist  the  cause  of  those  Scripture 
studies  which  is  now  engaging  the  minds  of  so  many  earnest 
and  thinking  people  in  the  Church. 

It  has  occurred  to  the  author  that  a  few  words  referring  to 
the  unsettled  condition  into  which  the  Church-  has  drifted,  in 
consequence  of  its  not  having  any  defined  laws  of  Biblical  inter- 
pretation, may  not  be  out  of  place  in  the  Preface  to  a  work  in- 
tended to  illustrate  a  new  principle  of  hermeneutics. 

Much  of  the  agitation  which  has  disturbed  the  quiet  of 
ancient  orthodoxy  during  the  last  five- and -twenty  years  is 
traceable  to  the  difficulties  which  science  and  criticism  have 
discovered  to  mark  the  early  portions  of  the  Book  of  Genesis. 
The  objections  urged  by  the  sceptics  of  the  preceding  century 
have  had  but  little  share  in  this  result.  Thej^  were  coarse  in 
their  terms  and  vulgar  in  their  spirit;  and  being  put  forth  by 
the  professed  enemies  of  revelation,  they  did  more  to  shock  the 
piety  of  the  Church  than  to  disturb  its  faith.     But  a  time  came 

xviii 


PREFACE.  Xix 

when  some  of  the  sons  of  the  Church — men  in  high  places — 
began  to  see  some  discrepancies  between  the  physical  condition 
of  the  earth  and  the  commonly  accepted  interpretations  of  that 
narrative  which  was  supposed  to  have  been  written  as  a  de- 
scription of  its  origin.  Inquiry  sprung  up  with  great  vigour 
within  its  own  pale:  it  has  been  conducted  with  great  persever- 
ance, caution,  and  learning,  and  now  no  one  doubts  the  neces- 
sity for  a  revised  interpretation  of  the  documents.  Geology 
has  entirely  put  aside  those  views  of  the  Mosaic  Creation  and 
the  Deluge  which  for  ages  have  been  accepted  as  solemn  facts 
by  the  Universal  Church.  It  is  now  generally  acknowledged 
that  those  narratives  could  not  have  been  written  for  the  pur- 
pose of  describing  the  origin  of  the  world  and  its  subsequent 
inundation.  They  do  not  agree  with  the  testimony  of  the 
rocks.  It  is  true  that  much  learning  and  ingenuity  has  been 
exerted  to  show  that  those  narratives  may  include  the  facts 
which  science  has  unfolded;  and  that  by  extending  the  signi- 
fication of  some  words  and  phrases  beyond  their  usual  import, 
diminishing  the  meaning  of  others,  and  viewing  the  whole  as 
compendious  and  popular  accounts  rather  than  as  exact  his- 
tories, they  may  still  be  accepted  by  many  as  having  a  sub- 
stratum of  physical  truth.  These  efforts,  however,  only  show 
the  lingerings  of  mistaken  opinions,  and  the  reluctance  with 
which  they  are  being  abandoned.  They  do  not  prove  that 
which  they  are  made  use  of  to  maintain.  Besides,  they  appear 
to  us  to  aim  a  blow  at  the  inspiration  of  those  ancient  writings, 
not  intended  but  nevertheless  real,  and  certainly  fatal  to  that 
idea  respecting  them.  Moreover,  of  what  use  are  such  docu- 
ments as  a  revelation  concerning  phvsical  occurrences,  if  the 
phenomena  described  do  not  agree  with  the  facts  discovered  ? 
It-  is  said  that  Scripture  is  not  given  to  teach  us  science.  This 
is  very  true;  but  how  can  those  who  insist  that  ]\Ioses  has  given 
the  literal  history  of  the  creation  and  a  universal  deluge  escape 


XX  PREFACE. 

the  conclusion  that  statements  are  made  to  which  science  is 
opposed?  Is  not  this,  in  effect,  saying  that  the  Scriptures 
reveal  a  science  that  is  not  true  ?  But  their  inspiration  implies 
that  they  are  "God-breathed."  How,  then,  can  narratives, 
not  accurate  in  the  facts  which  it  is  supposed  was  their  main 
object  to  communicate,  be  said  to  be  inspired  f — how  can  the 
words  of  such  narratives  be  so  distinguished  if  they  have  no 
settled  significance  ?  How  can  an  individual  be  said  to  be  in- 
spired to  write  that  which  is  inexact  of  physical  processes,  if 
such  processes  were  the  object  of  his  writing,  and  to  make  use 
of  terms  which  should  be  elastic  or  contracted  in  their  meaning, 
simply  to  provide  plausibility  for  that  which  is  scientifically 
inaccurate  ?  In  such  a  view  nothing  is  clear  but  its  confusion. 
All  the  efforts  which  have  been  made  by  those  reasonings  to 
remove  the  discrepancies  between  the  narrative  adverted  to  and 
the  discoveries  of  science,  seem  to  overlook  the  idea  of  their  in- 
spiration. They  appear  to  forget  that  those  documents  were 
really  provided  by  Divine  superintendence;  and  that  this  hav- 
ing been  their  origin,  they  must  be  accurate  in  the  facts  they 
are  intended  to  reveal.  This  is  not  the  case  with  the  narratives 
before  us,  supposing  them  to  treat  of  physical  occurrences,  and 
therefore  we  are  compelled  to  seek  for  the  facts  referred  to  in 
some  other  phases  of  created  existence.  Where  can  they  be 
found  ?  We  answer,  in  different  states  of  the  human  mind;  its 
relation  to  the  Creator,  and  its  separation  from  him.  These, 
and  not  natural  phenomena,  seem  to  us  to  be  the  real  purpose 
of  a  revelation  from  God  to  man;  and  those  early  narratives, 
like  the  parables  of  the  Lord  in  later  times,  are  figurative  his- 
tories of  spiritual  events,  true  in  their  nature  and  exact  in  their 
expression.  The  most  ancient  form  of  thought  is  figurative 
language;  it  is  well  known  to  have  prevailed  throughout  the 
East  from  the  remotest  times.  God,  however,  did  not  adopt  it 
as  the  vehicle  for  his  revelation,   because  it  was  the  style  of 


PEEFACE.  XXI 

those  nations;  but  it  became  prevalent  in  those  nations,  because 
it  was  the  original  style  which  God  mercifully  em^Dloyed  to 
convey  his  instructions  to  the  world. 

Believing  that,  in  the  narratives  to  which  we  have  adverted, 
there  is  given  the  history  of  the  rise  of  humanity,  its  temi:)ta- 
tion,  and  fall;  the  increase  of  a  peculiar  condition  of  society, 
and  its  final  overthrow;  we  also  believe  that  the  form  in  Avhich 
all  those  particulars  is  described  is  that  of  symbol.  For  the 
adoption  of  this  view,  there  are  reasons  respecting  those  his- 
tories, quite  as  cogent  as  those  which  suggest  the  necessity  for 
it  in  reference  to  the  Cosmogony  and  the  Deluge.  It  is  this 
view  concetning  those  documents  which  the  following  work  is 
intended  to  illustrate  and  explain.  It  recognizes  and  main- 
tains throughout  the  Divine  inspiration  of  the  documents,  and 
holds  in  the  utmost  veneration  the  literal  forms  through  which 
its  spiritual  teachings  are  conveyed.  The  difficulties  of  those 
forms  are  noticed  and  occasionally  dwelt  upon,  not  because 
they  trench  upon  the  real  significance  of  the  histories,  but 
chiefly  to  show  the  untenable  nature  of  their  literal  interpreta- 
tion: they  are  produced,  simply  to  deal  with  what  are  consid- 
ered to  be  mistaken  explanations,  in  order  to  prepare  the  way 
for  those  expositions  of  the  internal  sense  by  which  the  letter 
can  be  satisfactorily  reconciled  with  its  spiritual  purpose,  and 
the  whole  triumphantly  maintained  as  a  Divine  composition. 

Since  the  pul)lication  of  the  first  edition  of  this  work,  now 
fourteen  years  ago,  many  circumstances  have  transpired  within 
the  pale  of  the  professing  Church,  which  show  very  plainly  that 
a  mental  revolution  is  progressing  in  reference  to  theological 
opinion  and  Scriptural  interpretation.  All  parties  seem  to  feel 
that  much,  which  for  many  ages  has  been  taken  for  granted, 
requires  reconsideration.  They  are  experiencing  something  of 
the  growth  of  that  spiritual  liberty  which  is  peculiar  to  our 
times,  and  they  are  influenced  to  inquire  into  and  reason  upon 


XX 11  PREFACE. 

some  of  those  theological  sentiments  which  were  originally  forced 
into  the  Church  by  ancient  controversies,  and  since  then  main- 
tained more  by  ecclesiastical  authority  than  by  intellectual 
demonstration.  Inteipretations  of  Scripture  are  being  revised; 
the  ' '  Articles  of  Religion  ' '  are  discovered  to  have  been  loosely 
drawn;  the  utterances  of  the  Church  are  distinguished  from  the 
testimony  of  Scripture.  The  history  of  the  Creeds  shows  them 
to  have  been  the  outgrowth  of  subtlety  and  disputation:  there  is 
scarcely  a  subject  in  the  whole  field  of  theological  inquiry  that 
is  not  undergoing  some  scrutiny,  with  a  view  to  bring  it  back 
to,  and  base  it  upon  the  simple  evidence  of  Scripture.  The 
whole  mental  fabric  of  the  Church  has  been  thoroughly  dis- 
turbed, and  there  are  few  but  the  intellectually  idle  and  indif- 
ferent who  are  not  looking  forward  for  something  more  perfect 
to  come. 

This  state  of  things,  which  had  been  fermenting  for  a  consid- 
erable period,  at  last  found  for  itself  a  loud  utterance  in  the 
' '  Essays  and  Reviews, ' '  and  subsequently  in  the  ' '  Penta- 
teuch," &c.,  of  Bishop  Colenso.  These  works  represent  a  large 
party  in  the  Church;  not  that  the  party  endorse  all  the  views 
which  are  stated,  but  that  they  sympathize  with  the  dissatisfac- 
tion which  is  indicated,  and  the  progress  that  is  aimed  at. 
The  opinions  suggested  in  those  works,  though  sustained  with 
much  learning,  and  surrounded  with  an  admirable  spirit,  are 
not  such  as  we  could  implicitly  accept:  they  ajipear  to  rest  upon 
a  principle  which  does  not  sufficiently  acknowledge  the  Divine 
origin  of  the  Scriptures,  and  which  takes  but  little  notice  of 
theii*  inspiration;  and  their  tendency  is  rather  to  widen  the 
boundaries  of  religious  thinking  than  to  build  up  a  religious 
fabric.  The  opponents  of  those  works,  though  strongly  assert- 
ing the  divinity  and  inspiration  of  the  Word,  do  not  seem  to 
have  any  clear  idea  upon  these  points;  certainly  nothing  tliat 
can  be  defined  as  a  principle,  and  which  can  be  appealed  to  as 


PREFACE.  XXni 

a  proof.  Hence,  although  there  has  been  an  abundance  of 
replies,  there  has  been  a  paucity  of  refutations.  There  have 
been  arguments  without  reason,  denunciations  without  caution, 
and  persecution  without  mercy.  Though  the  provocations 
Avere  serious,  the  means  taken  for  removing  them  have  scarcely 
been  efficient.  The  true  materials  for  this  purpose  lie  in  a 
clear  knowledge  of  those  principles,  in  which  the  divinity  and 
inspiration  of  the  Word  consist,  and  this  neither  party  has 
possessed.  The  progressionists  either  forget  or  ignore  those 
characteristics  of  the  Word;  their  opponents  insist  upon  their 
existence,  but  are  not  capable  of  defining  their  nature:  and 
these,  not  satisfied  with  what  argument  could  do,  have  called 
the  law  courts  into  requisition,  and  been  worsted  in  the  contest. 
The  disputes  have  been  tried,  not  as  questions  of  truth  or  error, 
but  as  matters  of  ecclesiastical  legality,  and  it  has  been  declared, 
by  the  highest  authority  in  the  land,  that  the  Liturgy  does  not 
express  those  stringent  sentiments  which  the  prosecutors  had 
supposed.  They  have  therefore  failed  in  their  effort  to  put  a 
limit  to  religious  utterance,  and  the  party  of  progress  have  es- 
tablished the  right  to  speak  on  such  subjects  with  the  freedom 
in  which  they  have  indulged.  The  Archbishop  of  Canterbur}^, 
in  a  recent  charge  delivered  to  the  clergy  on  the  miscarriage  of 
this  prosecution,  expressly  says,  "  I  felt  I  was  in  nowise  called 
upon  to  attempt  a  definition  of  inspiration,  seeing  that  the 
Church  has  not  thought  fit  to  prescribe  one."  This  is  certainly 
the  declaration  of  a  dilemma.  The  matters  in  dispute  remain 
precisely  as  they  were,  and  what  can  settle  those  differences  but 
arguments  based  upon  a  just  appreciation  of  the  divinity  of  the 
Scriptures,  and  a  thorough  definition  of  that  in  which  their  in- 
spiration consists  ?  Legal  prosecution  may  pain  the  defendants, 
but  it  never  will  convince  them;  nor  will  any  argument  bring 
the  disputation  to  an  end  which  is  not  conducted  on  both  sides 
from  some  well-defined  principle  concerning  the  divinity  of  the 


XXIV  PREFACE. 

^^^)^(l.  This  is  not  merely  the  prior,  but  the  grand  question 
which  the  Church  should  endeavour  to  understand. 

Amidst  those  controversies  of  the  Establishment,  Noncon- 
formists have  been  advancing  in  liberality  and  learning;  but 
the  Roman  Church,  Avhich  never  changes,  has  been  looking  on 
with  rejoicing,  and  congratulating  herself  that  she  has  the  ability 
to  settle  all  such  matters  by  means  of  her  authority, — that  is, 
to  silence  inquiry  without  explanation,  and  punish  doubt  Avith 
the  fears  of  anathema.  Nevertheless,  the  troubles  to  which  we 
have  adverted  have  more  or  less  infested  every  branch  of  the 
Church;  nor  are  they  yet  allayed;  quietude  is  not  to  be  mis- 
taken for  peace:  the  fermentations  are  still  going  on;  purifica- 
tion will  follow.  Those  difficulties  are  in  the  hands  of  a  wise 
Providence,  and  they  may  be  viewed  as  storms  which  tend  to 
clear  the  atmosphere,  and  open  out  a  bluer  sky  and  a  brighter 
sunshine.  We  think  there  can  be  no  doubt  in  the  minds  of 
those  who  can  take  note  of  the  signs  of  the  times,  that  there  are 
some  new  and  beneficent  influences  at  work,  designed  to  bring 
about  some  new  perceptions  concerning  the  Word,  and  thus  to 
enable  the  Church  to  ground  its  teachings  upon  a  firmer  and 
more  intellectual  basis  than  any  it  has  previously  enjoyed. 

All  the  difficulties  by  which  it  has  been  assailed,  all  the  per- 
plexities by  which  it  has  been  disturbed,  have  arisen  out  of 
some  imperfect  apprehension  concerning  the  real  nature  of  the 
Word.  All  parties,  indeed,  concede  that  it  is  a  Divine  compo- 
sition; that  is,  they  make  use  of  the  terms,  but  fail  to  define 
their  significance.  Evangelical  learning  is  contributing  no  little 
information  towards  a  better  understanding  of  some  of  its  lit- 
eral contents.  Travels  and  Archseology  are  bringing  some  of 
their  valuable  acquirements  to  assist  in  this  desirable  work; 
Natural  History  is  rendering  help  of  considerable  importance; 
indeed,  every  department  of  knowledge  is  Ijeing  brought  into 
requisition  to  subserve  this  nol)le  purpose.      But  all  those  efiforts 


PREFACE.  XXV 

to  aid  us  with  a  better  understanding  of  the  letter  of  the  Scrip- 
tures have  not  yet  added  anything  by  which  to  comprehend 
the  nature  of  its  inspiration.  To  prove  the  truth  of  the  letter, 
in  cases  of  obscurity  and  doubt,  is  of  great  concern  to  all  who 
believe  in  its  Divine  origination,  but  that  of  itself  is  no  cer- 
tainty of  its  inspiration:  truth,  indeed,  is  necessary  to  it,  but  it 
is  no  evidence  of  it.  A  great  variety  of  books  are  true  concern- 
ing the  subjects  on  which  they  treat,  but  no  one  supposes  that 
this  is  the  result  of  anything  beyond  ordinary  human  ability 
and  observation.  It  is  also  possible  to  write  of  truths  in  prin- 
ciple which  may  not  be  strictly  accurate  in  form :  of  this  the 
parables  afford  a  beautiful  example.  To  prove,  then,  that  the 
subjects  generally  treated  of  in  the  Bible  are  true,  does  not  ex- 
plain to  us  anything  upon  the  subject  of  its  inspiration;  that  is 
a  question  which  lies  deeper  than  the  teachings  of  the  mere 
letter  of  the  Word,  and  it  is  to  be  opened  out  by  other  consid- 
erations. 

As  before  oljserved,  the  professing  Church  has  no  settled  defi- 
nition concerning  the  inspiration  of  the  Scriptures.  Differences 
of  opinion  prevail,  both  as  to  its  nature  and  extent,  and  no 
party  ventures  to  explain  how  the}^  are  inspired,  otherwise  than 
that  they  were  written  by  men  peculiarly  illuminated  for  the 
purpose.  According  to  this  view,  it  was  the  writers  who  were 
inspired  rather  than  their  writings.  No  doubt  the  writers  of 
the  Divine  Word  were  under  some  abnormal  condition  at  the 
time  they  v;rote.  Many  of  them  expressly  say  the  AVord  of  the 
Lord  came  unto  them;  and  this  must  be  true  of  all  that  is 
really  divine  in  the  Word.  But  where  is  the  evidence  of  this 
fact  ?  Surely  there  is  something  bequeathed  to  us  in  the  writ- 
ings of  these  persons  by  which  to  corroborate  so  grave  a  state- 
ment. The  history,  prophecy,  doctrines,  commands,  promises, 
reproofs,  and  exhortations  which  they  contain  are  all  eminently 
serviceable  to  this  purpose;  but  there  are  multitudes  of  things 


XXVI  PREFACE. 

associated  with  all  those  particulars  which  go  to  weaken  the 
force  of  the  evidence  with  those  critics  who  see  nothing  in  the 
Scriptures  besides  that  which  is  apparent  in  the  letter.  They 
say  the  letter,  in  numerous  places,  appears  like  an  ordinary 
writing,  neither  so  perspicuous  in  its  style,  so  sublime  in  its 
subjects,  nor  so  elegant  in  its  diction,  as  that  which  distin- 
guishes a  variety  of  secular  compositions:  hence  they  say, 
"  What  can  be  the  meaning  of  this  passage?  "  "What  can  be 
the  signification  of  that?"  "Can  this  be  Divine?"  "  Is  it 
possible  that  God,  who  is  infinitely  wise,  could  have  spoken  in 
this  manner?"  and  so  on.  But  all  those  difficulties  vanish 
Avhen  it  is  knoAvn  that  the  supernatural  influences  exercised 
upon  the  writers  must  in  some  measure  have  been  transferred 
to  the  writings  which  they  were  moved  to  prepare,  and  that 
the  proof  of  their  inspiration  is  to  be  sought  for  in  the  structure 
of  that  wdiich  they  have  written  for  the  edification  of  the 
Church.  As  their  spiritual  mind  was  opened  to  receive  a 
spiritual  dictate  from  on  high,  it  will  follow  that  such  a  dictate 
must  have  been  spiritual  in  its  nature,  and  that,  to  bring  down 
its  significance  for  perpetuation  in  the  world,  it  became  requi- 
site to  clothe  it  with  such  natural  imaginings  as  were  suitable 
to  this  purpose.  How  can  spiritual  things  be  taught  in  a  nat- 
ural world  by  any  Other  means?  It  was  spiritual  things  which 
they  were  inspired  to  know;  it  was  about  those  things  that  they 
were  required  to  write;  but  these  could  onl}'  be  represented  to 
mankind  by  means  of  a  literal  sense  peculiarly  constructed,  so 
that  it  might  contain  within  it  a  spiritual  significance.  Hence 
the  inspiration  of  the  Word  is  to  be  souglit  for  in  its  spiritual 
meaning.  The  literal  structure,  so  numerous  in  its  subjects 
and  so  varied  in  its  style,  is  the  medium  which  the  inspired 
penmen  had  to  make  use  of  to  express  that  which  they  w^ere 
inspired  to  communicate;  and  as  these  inspirations  induced  a 
spiritual  state,  so  what  they  have  deliveri'd  from  that  state  must 


PREFACE.  XXVll 

be  a  sijiritual  sense.  It  could  not  have  required  the  exercise  of 
a  miraculous  influence  upon  their  minds  to  have  induced  them 
to  write  events  that  were  transpiring  around  them,  or  which 
might  have  been  handed  to  them  by  tradition  or  by  the  obser- 
vation of  others;  but  it  did  require  such  an  influence  to  induce 
them  to  select  only  such  natural  materials  and  events  as  should 
be  the  suitable  vehicles  for  the  things  designed  to  be  revealed. 
Thus  it  may  be  seen  that  the  inspiration  of  the  Word,  as  dis- 
tinguished from  the  inspiration  of  the  writers,  consists  in  its 
possession  of  a  spiritual  sense;  and,  consequently,  it  is  in  that 
sense  that  its  holiness  pre-eminently  resides.  The  letter,  there- 
fore, is  adapted  to  this  purpose,  and  though  apparently  rude  in 
its  style,  it  is  more  excellent  than  any  other,  because,  being  in- 
spired, it  contains  something  holy  in  every  part  of  it,  and  is 
thus  adapted  to  open  heaven  to  the  mind  and  to  conjoin  the 
obedient  to  the  Lord.  Hence,  in  the  spiritual  sense  of  the  Word 
we  possess  the  evidence  both  of  the  inspiration  of  the  writing, 
and  the  inspiration  of  the  writers.  This  internal  sense  is  not 
that  which  a  person  may  discover  when  he  is  studying  the 
literal  sense  of  the  Word,  Avith  a  view  to  explain  some  doctrine 
of  his  Church;  that  light  is  little  else  than  an  illustration  of  the 
letter;  but  the  spiritual  sense  is,  as  it  were,  concealed  within 
the  letter,  yet  discoverable  in  it,  like  the  soul  within  its  body, 
or  as  the  thought  of  the  intellect  is  in  the  eye,  or  as  the  affec- 
tion of  love  is  in  the  countenance,  which  act  together  as  cause 
and  its  effect.  The  literal  things  spoken  of,  and  the  spiritual 
things  revealed,  correspond  to  each  other,  and  the  w^riters  have 
employed  those  natural  images  only  which  are  adapted  to  con- 
vey spiritual  truth.  For  this  purpose,  various  forms  of  litera- 
ture have  been  adopted.  History,  real  and  factitious,  prophecy, 
poetry,  geography,  national  peculiarities,  individual  characters, 
are  all  laid  under  contribution.  Whatever  literal  truths  there 
may  be  in  any  of  those  writings,  they  are  all  singularly  repre- 


XXVlll  PREFACE. 

seiitative,  and  the  main  design  of  their  selection  is,  that  they 
may  be  the  continent  of  spiritual  truths  for  the  edification  of  the 
Church.  No  one  supposes  that  the  letter  relates  all  that  trans- 
pired in  relation  to  the  subjects  on  which  it  treats:  only  so 
much  has  been  selected  as  was  necessary,  and  this  has  been 
written  in  such  a  way  as  to  subserve  its  chief  purpose.  Occa- 
sional difficulties  exist  in  the  letter,  simply  because  tlie  literal 
sense  was  not  the  main  thing  considered  in  its  production;  and 
also  because  the  form  in  which  the  letter  appears  is  best  suited 
to  convey  those  special  sentiments  of  spiritual  instruction  which 
it  contains.  In  the  spiritual  sense,  the  inspiration  of  the  Word 
and  of  its  writers  becomes  evident;  the  divinity  of  its  character 
is  unfolded  in  greater  fullness,  and  before  all  this  the  occasional 
difficulties  of  the  letter  appear  as  nothing.  The  purpose  of  the 
letter  was  not  to  produce  a  complete  narrative  in  any  other 
sense  than  that  it  should  be  complete  for  its  main  design:  thus, 
not  for  the  sake  of  itself,  but  for  the  sake  of  its  spiritual  con- 
tents. We  feel  assured  that  this  is  the  right  view  by  which  to 
meet  the  questions  which  have  been  raised  concerning  the 
Divine  origination  of  the  Word,  and  that  no  defences  can  be 
satisfactory  which  omit  to  take  cognizance  of  those  materials 
which  the  doctrine  concerning  its  S{)iritual  sense  supplies.  The 
Word  has  been  approached  with  criticisms  much  in  the  same 
way  as  any  other  book  having  pretensions  to  antiquity  and  im- 
portance; its  difficulties  have  been  replied  to  much  in  the  same 
spirit,  and  all  parties  seem  to  have  overlooked  the  circumstance 
that  it  has  been  written  according  to  a  plan  peculiarly  its  own; 
and  because  they  have  not  gone  sufficiently  up  to  first  princi- 
ples, great  perplexities  have  been  created.  Those  first  princi- 
ples we  believe  to  be  the  internal  sense  of  the  Holy  Word, — a 
sense  which  pervades  every  part  of  it,  and  which,  in  our  esti- 
mation, affords  the  most  complete  and  perfect  evidence  of  its 
sanctity,  Divine  origin,  and  heavenly  purpose.      The  following 


PKEFACE. 


work  will  afford  some  illustrations  of  the  manner  in  which  the 

recognition  of  this  sense  deals  with  the  difficulties  of  the  letter. 

It  shows  that  such  a  form  of  it  was  requisite  to  represent  the 

spiritual  things  intended  to  be  revealed;  and  while  explaining 

some  of  the  main  incidents  related  of  the  antediluvian  world,  it 

indicates  the  j^rinciple  which  underlies  the  form  of  all  that  it 

has  pleased  the  most  merciful  Father  of  our  spirits  to  reveal  for 

the  everlasting  edification  of  mankind. 

E.  D.  R. 

Pkeston,  April,  1864. 


THE  WORD  AND  ITS  INSPIRATION. . 


CHAPTER  I. 

INTRODUCTION.— GENERAL    STRUCTURE   OF   THE    NARRATIVE. 

"As  to  the  particular  form  in  which  the  descriptive  narrative  (of  creation)  is  con- 
veyed, we  merely  affirm  that  it  catmot  be  History — it  may  be  Poetry." — Rev. 
Baden  Powell,  M.A.,  F.R.S.,  F.L.S.,  F.G.S.,  Savilian  Profennor  of  Geometry  in 
the    University  of  Oxford.      Art.  "Creation,"  in  Kitto's   Biblical   Cyclopsedia, 

In  order  correctly  to  understand  the  written  documents  of 
antiquity,  it  is  necessary  to  know  something  of  the  genius  of  the 
people  among  whom  they  were  produced.  Without  this  in- 
formation, we  are  liable  to  great  mistakes.  Very  different  styles 
of  writing  have  prevailed  among  the  same  nations  at  successive 
periods  of  their  existence;  and  the  deeper  we  penetrate  into 
their  mental  history,  the  less  literal  and  more  poetical  shall  we 
find  their  methods  of  communication.  This  fact  is  not  to  be 
disregarded  in  prosecuting  the  inquiry  we  have  now  before  us. 
It  bears  forcibly  upon  the  point;  and  this  leads  us  to  ask, 
Whether  Antediluvian  History,  as  contained  in  the  Bible,  was 
written  in  accordance  with  that  historical  and  grannnatical 
criticism  by  which  it  has  been  common  to  interpret  it  in  modern 
times  ?  We  think  not.  The  record  of  creation  has  been  found 
to  give  way  before  the  discoveries  and  demands  of  science.  The 
genius  of  a  matter-of-fact  people  is  not  the  precise  thing  by 
which  to  judge  of  the  literary  productions  of  a  period  essentially 
spiritual  and  poetical.  Therefore  we  may  again  ask,  Whether 
this  peculiar  condition  of  mind,  which  prevailed  during  the 
early  periods  of  our  race,  when  these  remarkable  documents 
were  originally  produced,  may  not  have  induced  them  to 
describe  mental  existences  and  moral  processes  in  an  historical 
form  ?  May  not  the  rise  of  the  human  mind  out  of  inactivity 
3  1 


2  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    IXSPIKATION. 

and  darkness,  and  its  successive  advancement  into  a  state  prolific 
with  intelligence  and  virtue,  have  been  described,  l)y  such  a 
people,  as  the  creation  of  a  world  ?  INIay  not  the  intellectual 
sentiment  and  living  affection,  which  are  successively  developed 
during  such  a  process,  have  been  considered  by  them  as  so 
many  days  of  the  Divine  Work  ?  We  think  it  highly  probable, 
and  can  even  now  perceive  a  certain  general  resemblance  between 
the  description  and  the  process  indicated.  Every  one  is  aware 
that  it  was  usual,  in  after-times,  to  speak  of  the  mind  of  man  as 
a  microcosm — a  little  world;  while  the  Greek  fabulists  com- 
monly represented  man's  various  sentiments  by  numerous 
objects  selected  from  animated  nature. 

This  style  did  not  originate  with  the  Greeks;  it  prevailed  long 
before  they  existed  as  a  nation,  and  it  can  be  historically  traced 
among  people  of  much  higher  antiquity;  the  Egyptians,  for 
instance. 

If,  then,  the  early  portions  of  Genesis  should  prove,  as  we 
believe  they  will,  not  to  be  a  history  of  physical  things,  but  the 
history  of  mental  processes  and  phenomena,  expressed  in  a 
peculiar  Avay,  it  will  follow  that  great  and  serious  mistakes 
have  been  made  concerning  their  signification,  and  that  most  of 
the  valuable  information  they  were  written  to  convey  to  posterity 
has  been  entirely  overlooked. 

We  are  aware  that  there  are  those  who  have  great  hesitation 
in  attaching  any  other  meaning  to  the  words  of  the  Bible  than 
that  which  they  ordinarily  bear.  They  seem  to  think  that  in 
giving  up  tlicir  grammatical  sense,  or  natural  application,  they 
must  relinquish  their  real  and  solid  signification.  But,  as  it  is 
evident  that  there  are  multitudes  of  instances  in  the  Bible,  in 
which  words  are  employed  in  a  sense  widely  different  from  that 
in  which  they  are  commonly  used,  that  hesitation  cannot  be 
well  founded.  The  fact  which  it  supposes  cannot  be  maintained. 
Moreover,  those  who  consider  the  words  to  be  significant  of 
spiritual  things  regard  such  things  to  be  much  more  real,  solid, 
and  enduring  than  anything  which  the  mert^ly  grammatical 
sense  attached  to  them  can  express;  and,  therefore,  the  setting 
aside  of  their  ordinary  signification  does  not  deprive  them  of  a 
meaning  that  has  relation  to  reality. 

The  "  bending"  of  the  language  of  God's  Book  to  any  other 


INTERPRETATION    NECESSARY.  3 

than  its  obvious  meaning  is  said  to  be  an  "impiety."  *  But 
is  it  not  the  circumstance  of  the  meaning  not  being  always 
obvious  which  necessitates  the  commentary  ?  That  which 
is  plain  needs  no  interpretation  ;  the  clear  signification  is 
brought  out  by  the  "bending,"  i.  e.,  the  interpretation, 
since  without  it  there  are  numerous  instances  in  which  there 
would  be  either  no  sense  or  something  exceedingly  ambig- 
uous. There  cannot  be  any  impiety  in  the  honest  endeavour 
to  render  God's  Book  intelligible  and  instructive  to  its  thinking 
readers.  Impiety  lies  rather  upon  the  other  side, — in  permit- 
ting ideas  to  be  cherished,  under  the  supposition  that  they  are 
contained  in  God's  Book,  when  in  reality  they  are  not  to  be 
found  therein,  but  are  crude  inductions,  arising  from  erroneous 
meanings  being  attached  to  its  language.  The  very  fact  that  it 
is  God's  Book  implies  that  it  contains  more  than  immediately' 
appears  upon  the  surface,  and  thus,  that  the  words  are  but  the 
outer  vehicle  of  some  more  interior  thought,  which  interpreta- 
tion is  required  to  eliminate. 

The  narratives  before  us  are  conceded  to  be  a  Divine  produc- 
tion; we  believe  that  they,  together  with  the  whole  Scriptures, 
contain  within  themselves  much  fuller  evidence  of  this  fact  than 
any  wdiich  merely  verbal  or  historical  criticism  can  ever  reach. 
Our  inquiries,  then,  do  not  involve  anything  touching  their 
authenticity  and  genuineness  as  a  revelation  from  God:  that  to 
which  our  investigation  relates  is  the  sense  in  which  the  Church 
should  understand  them.  That  they  do  require  interpretation 
seems  evident  from  the  extensive  commentaries  which,  from 
time  to  time,  have  been  written  for  their  elucidation.  The 
design  of  those  productions  has  been,  for  the  most  part,  to 
uphold  the  literal  sense  of  these  documents:  and  yet  how  very 
unsatisfactory  is  much  that  has  been  written  on  this  side  of  the 
subject,  when  compared  with  what  a  free  and  philosophical 
inquiry  will  demand.  When  such  writers  have  reached  points 
which  have  come  into  collision  with  the  suggestions  of  reason, 
they  have  insisted  on  the  necessity  of  faith,  and  pleaded  the 
inexplicability  of  omnipotence.  A  becoming  piety  is  always 
proper  in  such  investigations,    but  it  was  never   intended  to 

*  E.  B  Piisey,  Regius  Professor  of  Hebrew  in  Oxford.  Letter  to  Dr. 
Buckland,  in  his  Bridgewater  Treatise,  Geology  and  Mineralogy,  page  25. 


4  THE   "WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

divert  us  from  the  path  of  enlightened  investigation.  We 
freely  admit  the  value  of  faith,  and  at  once  concede  the  incom- 
prehensibility of  the  Divine  Power.  This  admission  and  con- 
cession ought  to  induce  us  to  approach  Scripture  investigation 
with  humility  and  caution,  but  surely  do  not  require  us  to  re- 
linquish the  endeavour  to  rightly  understand  anything  that  has 
been  delivered  to  us  as  a  Revelation  from  God.  Reason,  con- 
sidered as  a  faculty  of  our  nature,  is  as  much  the  production  of 
God  as  is  the  revelation  of  the  Scriptures.  They  are  designed 
mutually  to  assist  and  illustrate  each  other  :  and  whenever  they 
are  brought  into  collision,  it  is  the  result  of  some  perversity  on 
the  part  of  man.  When  he  is  in  order,  the  Scriptures  will 
harmonize  with  his  highest  wants  and  perceptions. 

Most  persons  are  aware  that  there  are  many  serious. difficulties 
in  the  literal  sense  of  the  early  portion  of  the  Word  which 
remain  unsolved,  and  that  bright  minds  and  deep  learning  have 
been  employed  upon  the  inquiry  without  a  successful  issue.  * 
There  are  large  numbers  in  the  Professing  Christian  world,  who 
are  not  yet  convinced  that  a  right  path  has  been  chosen  for 
"this  pursuit,  and  many  will  be  glad  to  have  the  opportunity  of 
freely  considering  some  new  views  on  the  whole  subject.  These, 
in  the  course  of  this  work,  it  will  be  our  endeavour  to  provide; 
offering,  as  we  proceed,  such  contirmation  from  revelation, 
evidence  from  history,  and  responses  from  the  living  sentiments 
of  humanity,  as  our  acquaintance  with  them  will  enable  us  to 
supply. 

To  doubt  the  truth  of  certain  human  interpretations  of  the 
Scriptures  is  one  of  the  immunities  of  Protestant  Christianity; 
and,   notwithstanding  religious  differences  have  sprung  out  of 

*  "The  difficulties,  which  have  been  usually  brought  forward  in  England, 
as  affecting  the  historical  character  of  the  Pentateuch,  are  those  which 
concern  the  Creation,  the  Fall,  and  the  Deluge  ;  and  many,  who  feel  these 
difficulties  very  strongly,  are  able  to  get  over  them,  by  supposing  the  two 
first  to  embody  some  kind  of  allegorical  teaching,  and  the  last  to  be  a  report 
of  some  dread  catastrophe  handed  down  in  the  form  of  legend  from  hoar 
antiquity." — Dr.  Colenso.  The  Pentaieitch,  and  Book  of  Joshua,  critically 
Examined.  Preface,  p.  xxii.  It  does  not  clearly  appear  whether  the  writer 
agrees  with  this  supposition,  but  certainly  it  commends  itself  to  thoughtful 
minds,  and  we  trust  that  some  evidence  in  support  of  it  will  appear  as  this 
work  proceeds. 


DIFFICULTIES    ADMITTED.  5 

this  freedom,  very  generous  and  enlightened  views  have  been 
promoted  by  its  exercise.  We  are  aVjout  to  employ  this  privi- 
lege in  another  department  of  bil)lical  inquiry;  but  for  no  other 
purpose,  so  far  as  we  know  our  own  hearts,  than  to  advance 
the  interest  of  what  we  believe  to  be  the  general  scope,  rational 
meaning,  and  religious  design  of  the  early  chapters  of  the  Book 
of  Genesis.  We  believe  those  documents  to  be  descriptions  of 
spiritual  phenomena  only,  and  think  that  men  did  not  begin  to 
attach  a  natural  meaning  to  them  until  they  had  descended 
from  an  ancient  state  of  intellectual  eminence,  and  suffered 
their  faith  to  pass  into  the  obscurities  of  sensual  apprehension. 
We  hold  that  it  could  not  have  been  the  intention  of  the  Sacred 
Writings  to  communicate  to  man  instruction  concerning  physi- 
cal truths.  These  were  open  to  the  scientific  investigation  and 
the  common  understanding  of  natural  men:  and  the  progress  of 
science,  in  disclosing  the  monuments  of  the  past  ages  of  terres- 
trial existence,  has  established  facts  which  are  utterly  repug- 
nant to  the  popular  interpretation  of  the  first  chapter  of  the 
Hebrew  Scriptures.  The  evidences  which  geology  has  brought 
to  light  carry  us  back  into  an  unutterable  period  of  time.  They 
prove  a  duration  to  the  earth;  demonstrate  the  existence  of 
living  structures,  of  great  diversity  and  interest,  belonging  to 
both  the  vegetable  and  animal  kingdoms;  they  proclaim  the 
operation  of  phenomena,  and  certify  to  innumerable  events,  all 
of  which  are  plainly  inconsistent  with  the  notion  which  regards 
the  first  chapter  of  Genesis  to  be  a  circumstantial  account  of 
primordial  creation. 

These  facts  are  now  very  generally  acknowledged  b}'^  learned 
men  of  all  parties;  not  that  they  have  abandoned  the  idea  of 
the  Mosaic  history  giving  an  account  of  the  creation,  but  that 
they  have  relinquished  those  long-standing  opinions  which  it 
was  supposed  circumstantially  to  indicate. 

The  lapse  of  immense  periods  of  time  which  geology  proves 
to  have  taken  place  before  the  creation  of  man;  also  those 
evidences  which  show  that,  before  that  event,  there  had  come 
into  being  successive  orders  of  animal  and  vegetable  life,  differing 
from  existing  species,  and  all  of  which  had  as  gradually  become 
extinct,  are  discoveries  which  affect,  in  their  consequences,  the 
entire  view  to  betaken  of  the  wftole  subject.     These  facts,  being 


b  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    EXSPrRATION. 

inconsistent  with  what  for  centuries  had  been  considered  as  the 
obvious  meaning  of  the  Mosaic  cosmogony,  demand,  either  that 
the  narrative  should  no  longer  be  considered  as  a  description  of 
physical  creation,  or  that  it  should  be  so  interpreted  as  to 
harmonize  with  the  unquestionable  discoveries  of  science.  The 
former  course  was  too  serious  a  matter  to  be  attempted.  The 
notion  of  this  record  being  a  description  of  creation,  in  some 
sense,  had  become  too  venerable  in  the  Church  to  be  suddenly 
put  aside;  the  latter,  therefore,  has  h>een  undertaken  by  learned 
men. 

But  after  the  display  of  much  effort  in  that  direction,  it  has 
been  said  that  the  object  of  Genesis  "  was  not  to  state  in  what 
manner,  but  by  ickom  the  world  was  made."  *  This  is  cutting 
the  difficulty  shorter,  but  it  does  not  explain  it.  A  summary 
statement  of  this  nature  could  not  have  been  satisfactory  to  the 
authors  of  it:  the  details  of  the  narration  are  too  many  to  have 
permitted  such  a  result.  It  certainly  does  state  by  ichom  the 
world  was  made;  but  is  there  not  also  a  precise  description  of  the 
order  of  the  process,  and  are  there  not  some  indications  of  the 
manner  f  Every  one  knows  that  all  things  are  distinctly  said  to 
have  been  spoken  into  existence:  and  there  are  few  who  have 
not  noticed  the  manner  in  which  the  making  of  woman  was 
begun.  -  Into  what  palpaVjle  dilemmas  will  the  adoption  of 
erroneous  premises  conduct  us  !  If  it  be  once  clearly  perceived 
that  an  explanation  of  physical  creation  does  not  properly  belong 
to  a  system  of  theology,  then  it  will  soon  be  acknowledged  that 
the  Mosaic  description,  considered  as  a  revelation  from  God, 
must  refer  to  other  phenomena. 

*  Dr.  Bnoklatid"s  Bridgewater  Treatise,  p.  33.  Art.  Creation,  Kitto's 
Cyclopiedia  of  Biblical  Literature.  Ensebias  also  says,  "It  was  not  tlie 
intention  of  Moses  to  detail  a  philosophical  account  of  the  formation  of  the 
world,  but  to  signify  only  that  it  did  not  exist  of  itself  or  by  chance,  but  was 
the  production  of  an  all- wise  and  all  powerful  Creator." — Oracles  of  Eeason, 
I.  4,  p.  186.  Euaeb.  Pratp.  Ev.  2.  7.  "Scripture  was  not  designed  to  teach  us 
natural  philosophy,  and  it  is  vain  to  attempt  to  make  a  cosmogony  out  of  its 
statements.  The  Almighty  declares  himself  the  originator  of  all  things  :  but 
he  condescends  not  to  describe  the  process  or  the  L^ws  by  which  he  worked. 
All  this  he  leaves  for  reason  to  decipher  from  the  phenomena  which  his  world 
displays."  — .S<Tj;)^M re  and  Science  not  at  Variance.  By  J.  H.  Pratt,  M.A., 
Archdeacon  of  Calcutta,  1S59.     Third  Edition,  p.  34. 


DIFFICULTIES    ADMITTED.  7 

The  natural  explanations  which  have  been  offered  are  too 
vague  and  general  to  be  received  as  the  true  meaning  of  those 
ancient  writings,  neither  have  those  views  taken  any  hold  upon 
the  public  inind.  Expositors  have  not  been  agreed  on  any  precise 
theory  by  which  the  earth  came  into  existence;  and,  therefore, 
they  have  not  succeeded  in  squaring  up  the  narrative  for  popular 
acceptance.  Hence,  while  the  old  ideas,  which  used  to  be 
regarded  as  the  obvious  sense  of  the  history,  are  thoroughly 
exploded  by  scientific  discovery,  the  new  interpretations  which 
have  been  attempted  are  received  with  distrust,  so  that  popular 
Christianity  is  left  in  complete  uncertainty  as  to  the  real  meaning 
of  the  narrative. 

It  may  not  be  unacceptable  to  notice  what  have  been  the 
principal  views  of  the  Mosaic  record,  which  those  scientific 
discoveries  have  led  biblical  students  to  adopt.  At  the  very 
outset  it  is  demanded  that  the  literal  interpreter  of  the  Scriptures 
should  make  concessions — that  he  should  give  up  much  of  the 
usual  and  ordinary  signification  attached  to  the  language.  The 
precise  amount  of  yielding  is  not  defined,  but  jt  is  evident  that 
it  must  be  considerable. 

It  was  long  a  customarj^  thing  to  look  upon  the  stratified 
condition  of  the  earth  as  the  result  of  the  Xoachic  deluge.  But 
it  is  now  admitted  upon  all  hands  that  this  could  not  have  been 
the  cause.  The  vestiges  of  animals  with  which  the  strata 
abound,  belonging  to  extinct  genera  and  distinct  periods,  prove 
that  they  had  lived  at  incalculable  distances  of  time  from  each 
other;  also  that  the  strata  in  which  they  are  found  had  been 
very  gradually  deposited.  These,  therefore,  sufficiently  prove 
that  the  few  months'  continuance  of  the  deluge  could  not  have 
been  the  cause  by  which  those  wrecks  were  produced. 

Another  hypothesis  was  that  the  earth's  strata  were  formed 
at  the  bottom  of  the  sea  during  the  time  which  intervened 
between  primordial  creation  and  the  flood,  at  which  period  it 
is  supposed  that  the  antediluvian  continents  were  submerged, 
and  the  bottom  of  the  sea  raised  to  supply  their  place.  This, 
however,  is  a  mere  conjecture,  at  which  there  is  not  the  slightest 
liint  in  all  the  narrative,  and  against  which  there  is  this  scientific 
fact — namely,  the  remains  of  land  animals  of  distinct  geological 
periods. 


8  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

These  two  views,  in  which  it  has  been  attempted  to  maintain 
the  literal  sense  of  the  Mosaic  cosmogony,  by  referring  geo- 
logical phenomena  to  the  catastrophe  of  the  deluge,  have  now 
no  weight  with  scientific  men. 

The  next  opinion  which  has  been  offered  to  the  acceptance  of 
the  world  is  that  the  ' '  days, ' '  in  which  Moses  describes  the 
creation  to  have  been  accomplished,  are  to  be  understood  as 
great  intervals  of  time;  and  this  interpretation,  it  is  asserted, 
will  render  his  account  consistent  with  the  long  successive 
periods  which  science  demands.  It  is  true  that  the  term 
' '  day  ' '  is  frequently  mentioned  in  the  Scriptures  to  denote, 
not  twenty-four  hours  merely,  but  an  undefined  period; 
still,  this  fact  does  not  meet  all  the  conditions  which  the 
problem  before  us  demands.  Moses  describes  the  vegetable 
kingdom  to  have  been  produced  before  the  animal,  whereas 
geology  shows  them  to  have  been  contemporaneous.*  This, 
however,  cannot  well  be  urged  against  the  view  under  consider- 
ation, because  the  mineral  substances  which  enter  into  the 
composition  of  the  osseous  structure  of  the  animal  are  less 
destructible  than  vegetable  fibre.  The  j^oints  fatal  to  this  view 
of  the  case  are,  that  those  periods  of  time  are  not  only  spoken 
of  as  days,  but  also  as  the  alternation  of  evening  and  morning, 
to  which  the  speculation  attaches  no  significance.  Moreover, 
those  who  take  this  view  of  the  subject,  when  they  come  to  the 
seventh  day,  abandon  their  own  interpretation  of  that  term,  and 
insist  upon  the  ordinary  sense  of  it,  on  the  ground  of  a  state- 
ment made  in  the  fourth  commandment  relating  to  the  Sabbath. 
It  is  a  view,  therefore,  which  is  not  consistent  with  itself;  neither 
does  it  reconcile  the  facts  of  animal  deaths  and  vegetable  ruin, 
which  preceded  the  existence  of  man,  with  the  narrative,  which 
is  plainly  a  description  of  the  successive  bringing  into  existence, 
and  the  merciful  preservation,  of  various  orders  of  life;  and,  at 
the  same  time,  wisely  keeping  out  of  sight  everything  of  a  con- 
trary nature.  Surely,  that  can  hardly  be  said  to  be  a  circum- 
stantial account  of  the  natural  creation,  .during  some  periods  of 
which,  and  long  i^efore  the  completion  of  the  whole,  extensive 

*"  The  most  ant'ieirt  marine  animals  oerur  in  the  same  division  of  the 
lowest  transition  strata  with  the  earliest  remains  of  vegetaliles.  "• — Dr.  Buck- 
land's  Bridgetvdtcr  Treatise,  p.  17. 


THE    DEMANDS    OF   GEOLOGY.  9 

destructions  were  effected,  and  concerning  which  not  the  least 
intimation  has  been  given  in  the  record,  but  all  of  them  care- 
fully concealed. 

The  force  of  such,  and  kindred  objections,  has  been  felt,  and 
another  conjecture  has  been  ventured. 

It  has  been  argued  that  the  first  verse  of  Genesis,  or  the  first 
and  second,  should  be  considered  distinctly  from  what  follows, 
and  that  all  the  physical  phenomena  of  geology  should  be  re- 
ferred to  the  period  indicated  by  the  ^^  beginning '\-  since  it  was 
in  the  beginning  that  God  made  the  earth;  that  not  being  in- 
cluded in  the  work  of  the  first  day.*  It  is  said  that  the  Divine 
operations  in  the  beginning,  not  being  in  any  way  connected 
with  the  history  of  our  race,  are  passed  over  in  silence,  because 
the  purpose  of  Moses  is  only  to  inform  us  of  the  progress  of 
creation  at  the  last  great  change  which  affected  the  surface 
of  the  earth,  together  with  the  production  of  its  present  races  of 
animal  and  vegetable  inhabitants. 

Under  this  view  of  the  case,  the  narrative  of  Moses  is  not 
considered  to  be  the  history  of  the  actual  beginning  of  the 
universe  at  all,  but  only  as  a  statement  of  the  origination  of  a 
certain  epoch;  it  having  been  preceded  by  many  others,  each  of 
immense  duration,  and  all  distinguished  by  a  great  abundance 
of  organic  life.  This,  certainly,  is  a  very  forced  exposition  of 
the  subject;  but  if  it  be  admitted  to  settle  some  of  the  difficul- 
ties which  geology  proposes  to  the  more  common  view  of  the 
narration,  it  leaves  others  untouched  which  are  equally  formid- 
able. Some  of  these  it  undertakes  to  deal  with  in  general 
terms,  and  others  more  circumstantially,  by  supposing  the 
existence  of  phenomena  which  may  come  within  the  meaning 
of  the  Mosaic  history.  For  instance,  it  is  there  asserted  that 
light  prevailed  three  days  before  the  sun,  the  moon,  and  stars. f 

*See  Dr.  Buckland's  Inaugural  Lecture:  O.xford  edition,  pp.  31,  32,  and 
Dr.  Chalmers'  Evidences  of  the  Christian  Revelation,  chap.  vii. 

t  This  objection  has  been  frequently  urged  :  the  following  is  among  the 
most  accredited  replies  of  theologians.  "A  difficulty  has  arisen  in  the 
minds  of  some  critics  and  commentators,  to  account  for  the  production  of 
light  before  the  creation  of  the  sun,  which  has  been  considered  as  its  source  ; 
and  they  have  indulged  in  various  conjectures  on  the  subject.  Some  have 
supposed  that  it  was  caused  by  an  imperfect  sun,  in  which  the  elements  of 


10  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

Wlien,  then,  it  is  asked, — if  those  luminaries  were  among  the 
conditions  of  the  "beginning,"  in  the  sense  which  is  claimed 
for  that  term, — how  it  happens  that  they  are  described  as  first 
coming  into  being  on  the  fourth  day,  in  the  narrative  which  is 
considered  to  relate,  not  to  the  "beginning,"  but  only  to  an 
order  of  things  which  began  myriads  of  years  afterwards,  the 
answer  given  is  founded  on  a  conjecture — namely,  "that  the 
darkness  described  on  the  evening  of  the  first  day  Avas  a  tem- 
porary darkness,  produced  by  the  accumulation  of  dense  vapours 

light  and  fire  were  not  yet  collected  iu  sufficient  quantities  to  illuminate  the 
earth.  Others  have  imagined  that,  though  the  sun  existed,  his  rays  could 
not  penetrate  through  the  dense  atmosphere  so  as  to  render  the  surface  of 
the  terraqueous  globe  visible.  A  third  conjecture  is  that  this  first  created 
light  was  only  a  lucid  cloud,  of  the  same  nature  as  the  Shechinah,  which 
guided  the  Israelites  by  night  iu  their  journeyings  through  the  wilderness. 
But  this  difficulty  has  arisen  from  adopting,  with  implicit  confidence,  a 
mere  hypothesis  of  modern  philosophy  ;  an  hypothesis  which  the  recent 
impi'ovemeuts  in  science  serve  to  render  every  day  more  questionable. 
Instead  of  the  great  elementary  body  of  light  emanating  from  the  sun,  there 
is  reason  to  believe  that  light  itself  is  an  inconceivably  subtle  fluid, 
pervading  all  space,  and  wholly  independent  of  the  sun,  which  may  be 
considered  as  its  principal  exciter,  or  the  great  agent  in  nature  which  gives 
it  motion,  and  renders  it  the  medium  of  vision.  The  late  experiments  iu 
chemistry  and  galvanism  have  served  to  render  such  a  fluid  more  familiar  to 
us.  Further,  we  know  that  there  are  many  substances  capable  of  emitting 
light  indepeudently  of  the  sun.  Among  others  may  be  mentioned,  besides 
culinary  fire,  the  difl'ereut  kinds  of  phosphori,  the  diamond,  the  glow-worm, 
the  Bologua  Stone,  the  fire-fly,  ignis  fatuus,  putrescent  fish,  &c.,  aud  fre- 
quently the  waters  of  the  sea  are  seen  to  emit  light." — Commentaries  and 
Annotations  on  the  Holy  Scriptures :  By  the  Rev.  John  Hewlett,  B.  D.  We  do 
not  see  how  these  statements  meet  the  difficulty.  The  theories  adverted  to 
can  have  no  weight  before  they  are  proved  to  be  true  :  this  they  have  not 
been;  and,  even  if  they  had,  may  not  the  prior  existence  of  the  sun  have 
contributed  to  the  result?  Moreover,  the  facts  selected  seem  to  tell  against 
the  argument  they  are  intended  to  sustain.  The  light  emitted  by  "  culinary 
fire,  the  different  kinds  of  phosphori,"  &c.,  are  not  displayed  independently 
of  the  .sources  predicated:  nor  does  philosophy  know  of  any  light — the  light 
requisite  to  illuminate  the  universe — independently  of  the  snn.  Besides, 
how  numerous  are  the  animals  which  geologists  have  exhumed  from  the 
earth,  and  which  were  embedded  in  strata  unnumbered  years  before  the 
supposed  creation  of  the  sun  on  the  fourth  day.  All  those  animals  had  eyes, 
and  surely  that  may  be  taken  as  a  proof  of  the  existence  of  sunlight  at  a 
time  immensely  before  that  which  the  narrative  contemplates  for  the  existence 
of  the  sun. 


HYPOTHESES    WHICH    HAVE    BEEN    HE^^D.  11 

upon  the  face  of  the  deep";  and  that  "an  incipient  dispersion 
of  these  vapours  may  have  readmitted  light  to  the  earth  u]>on 
the  first  day,  whilst  the  exciting  cause  of  light  was  still  obscured: 
and  the  further  purification  of  the  atmosphere,  upon  the  fourth 
day,  may  have  caused  the  sun  and  moon  and  stars  to  reappear 
in  the  firmament  of  heaven."*  We  can  conceive  some  idea  of 
the  phenomena  here  indicated:  but  they  are  the  mere  hypotheses 
of  science;  and  certainly  they  do  not  come  within  that  fair 
meaning  of  the  narration  which  they  ought  to  do,  if  it  is  to  be 
received  as  the  description  of  natural  creation.  We  hold  that 
if  it  had  been  designed  as  a  revelation  of  the  process  by  which  the 
'present  or  any  other  order  oj  physical  nature  had  its  commencement, 
it  would  have  been  written  so  as  not  to  have  presented  the 
embarrassment  which  learning  encounters  and  piety  experiences 
from  taking  such  a  view  of  it. 

Another  opinion  has  been  put  forth,  more  recently  than  those 
which  have  been  noticed.  This,  although  somewhat  similar  to 
that  which  immediately  precedes,  regards  the  initial  verses  of 
Moses  to  be  an  announcement  altogether  independent  of  the 
descriptions  which  follow.  They  are  considered  to  ' '  express 
posteriority,  without  defining  the  separating  interval ' ' ;  and, 
during  that  interval,  those  vast  changes  are  considered  to  have 
taken  place  in  the  structure  and  productions  of  the  earth  which 
science  so  abundantly  demonstrates.  This,  of  course,  is  urged 
to  meet  the  conditions  of  geological  facts,  f    It  is  next  contended 

*  Dr.  Bnckland's  Bridgewater  Treatise.     Second  edition,  pp.  29,  30. 

t  Another  theory  was  set  forth  in  1857  by  Hugh  Miller,  a  geologist  whose 
authority  is  of  great  weight.  He  says  :  "  The  conclusion  to  which  I  have  been 
compelled  to  arrive  is,  that  for  many  long  ages,  ere  man  was  ushered  into 
being,  not  a  iew  of  his  humbler  contemporaries  of  the  fields  and  woods 
enjoyed  life  in  their  present  haunts  ;  and  that,  for  thousands  of  years  anterior 
to  even  their  appearance,  many  of  the  existing  mollusks  lived  in  our  seas. 
That  day  during  which  the  present  creation  came  into  being,  and  in  which 
God,  when  he  had  made  'the  beast  of  the  earth  after  his  kind,  and  the  cattle 
after  their  kind,'  at  length  terminated  the  work  by  moulding  a  creature  in 
his  own  image,  to  whom  he  gave  dominion  over  them  all,  was  not  a  brief 
period  of  a  few  hours'  duration,  but  extended  over,  mayhap,  millenniums  of  cen- 
turies. No  blank  chaotic  gap  of  death  and  darkness  separated  the  creation 
to  which  man  belongs  from  that  of  the  old,  extinct  elephant,  hippopotamus, 
and  hyena  ;  for  familiar  animals --such  as  the  red  deer,  the  roe,  the  fox,  the 
wild  cat,  and  the  badger — lived  throughout  the  period  which  connected  their 


12  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

that  the  term  earthy  employed  subsequently  to  the  first  verse, 
and  throughout  the  whole  description  of  the  six  daj's'  work, 
means  only  a  limited  portion  of  the  earth's  surface,  that  was  to 
be  adapted  for  the  residence  of  man  and  the  animals  connected 
with  him.  This  portion  is  fixed  in  a  certain  geographical 
locality  of  Asia;  which,  having  been  brought  into  general  ruin 
and  disorder  by  geological  causes,  was  also  overspread  with 
darkness,  similar  to  that  which  has  been  known  to  accompany 
the  disasters  of  an  earthquake.  This  was  the  chaos,  and  that 
was  its  locality.*  These  speculations  being  premised,  the 
creation  of  the  existing  species  of  things,  the  reintroduction  of 
light  by  the  removal  of  the  local  darkness,  and  thereby  the 
manifestation  of  the  heavenly  bodies,  together  with  all  the  other 
particulars  of  the  description,  are  said  to  have  taken  place 
literally,  according  to  the  Mosaic  language,  in  six  natural  days. 
These  opinions  are  elaborately  set  forth,  and  their  critical 
defence  ably  undertaken,  f  Nevertheless,  to  us,  the  argument 
has  failed  to  be  convincing. 

It  would  be  foreign  to  our  purpose  to  discuss  any  of  the 
details.  It  is  sufficient,  for  the  general  design  we  have  in 
noticing  these  views,  to  observe  that  they  suggest  physical 
senses  to  the  terms,  and  ideas  to  the  sentiments  which  they 
express,  that  never  could  have  sprung  out  of  the  narrative  itself; 

time  with  our  own;  aud  so  I  have  been  compelled  to  hold,  that  the  days  of 
creation  were  not  natural  but  prophetic  (Jays,  and  stretched  far  back  into  bygone 
eternity.'^ — Testimony  of  the  Eocl's,  p.  10.  It  is  enough  to  say  on  this,  that 
it  completely  abandons  the  literal  sense  of  the  record;  and,  consequently, 
it  cannot  be  that  histor}'  of  the  physical  creation  which  has  been  commonly 
supposed.  If  God,  by  the  narrative,  had  intended  to  teach  us  concerning  the 
order  in  which  the  universe  was  created,  we  may  rest  assured  that  he  would 
have  done  it  in  such  a  way  as  to  have  prevented  the  necessity  for  the  above 
speculations,  and  that  it  would  have  been  in  harmony  with  the  phenomena 
discovered.  "What  is  written  is  plainly  at  variance  with  facts  ;  aud  Miller's 
arguments  prove  the  unteuability  of  the  theories  of  Chalmers  aud  Bucklaud. 

*  "  There  are  no  traces  of  any  such  catastrophe  as  must  be  supposed,  even 
over  a  limited  portion  of  the  earth's  surlace,  subsequent  to  the  latest  tertiary 
formation." — Rev.  B.  Powell,  31.  A.,  dx.  Art.  'Creation,^  Kitto^s  Biblical 
Cyclopedia. 

tThe  Relation  between  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  some  Parts  of  Geological 
Science.  By  John  Pye  Smith,  D.D.,  F.R.S.,  and  F.G.S.  Second  edition, 
p.  268,  onward. 


NO    HISTORY    OF   THE    BEGINNING.  13 

also,  that  those  senses  and  sentiments  owe  their  origin  to 
scientific  conclusions,  and  not  to  the  unbiased  study  and  general 
tenor  of  the  record.  We  put-  it  to  the  fair  judgment  of  the 
reader,  and  ask  whether  it  is  not  so;  whether  it  is  rational  to 
suppose  that  the  Mosaic  description  of  creation  refers  merely  to 
certain  local  phenomena  which  were  occurrent  in  Asia,  and  that 
the  command  for  the  appearance  of  light,  with  the  declaration  of 
making  the  sun,  the  moon,  and  stars,  meant  only  the  causing  of 
those  luminaries  to  reappear  upon  that  locality,  by  removing 
the  darkness  which  aqueous  vapour,  an  earthquake,  or  some 
other  geological  causes,  might  have  produced.     We  think  not. 

We  do  not  understand  the  authors  of  the  several  schemes  of 
interpretation  adverted  to  as  designing  to  make  Moses  speak  the 
sentiments  of  modern  philosophy;  of  which,  indeed,  he  could 
have  known  nothing.  This  it  would  be  impossible  to  do,  to  say 
nothing  of  the  irreverence  of  such  an  attempt.  Their  principal 
aim  seems  to  have  been  to  show  that  his  narrative  of  the 
creation  is  admissive  of  an  explanation  not  inconsistent  with 
such  new  discoveries;  and  so  to  maintain  its  position  as  a 
portion  of  the  Word  of  God,  which  it  most  certainly  is.  We 
highly  appreciate  and  most  sincerely  value  this  excellent  motive, 
though  we  think  the  means  which  have  been  adopted  are 
unsatisfactory  and  erroneous.  We  believe  that  the  whole  diffi- 
culty which  these  several  interpretations  have  been  invented  to 
remove  lies  entirely  in  mistaking  the  real  design  of  the  early 
chapters  of  Genesis;  and,  specially,  in  supposing  the  initial 
portion  of  them  to  treat  of  the  physical  creation  at  all. 

The  old,  and  what  used  to  be  received  as  the  pure  and  simple 
sense  of  this  portion  of  the  Divine  Word,  has  been  entirely  up- 
rooted, so  that  the  great  mass  of  the  professing  Christian  Church 
is,  as  we  have  before  remarked,  actually  without  any  settled  or 
authoritative  opinion  upon  the  subject:  and  enlarged  minds 
have  well  perceived  that  nothing  satisfactory  can  be  offered  to 
its  intelligent  acceptance,  so  long  as  it  is  considered  to  speak  of 
mundane  things. 

These  circumstances  "have  originated  the  opinion  within  that 
Church,  and  which  is  making  favourable  advancement  among 
its  people,  that  "it  cannot  be  history — it  may  be  poetry." 
The  facts  to  which,  as  "  poetry,"  it  may  be  considered  to  relate. 


14  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

have  yet  to  be  unfolded.  We  concur  with  the  sentiment  that 
"it  cannot  be  history  "  :-^that  is,  it  cannot  be  the  history  of  the 
origination  of  the  outer  world  -with  its  physical  inhabitants: 
nevertheless  we  think  that  it  is  history; — the  history  of  certain 
processes  of  the  human  mind  (as  intimated  at  the  outset),  by 
which  it  has  successively  risen  from  darkness  into  light, — by 
Avliich  its  feeble  beginnings  of  intellectual  life  were  develo})ed 
into  more  vigorous  activity  and  greater  excellence — by  which  a 
numerous  and  diversified  series  of  living  affections  were  brought 
into  active  existence;  and  that,  finally,  the  whole  process 
resulted  in  the  production  of  that  spiritual  structure  which  is 
described  as  having  been  in  the  image  of  God. 

It  is,  we  most  sincerely  believe,  the  particulars  of  this  general 
process  of  which  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis  is  the  history: — a 
history  of  the  rise  and  progress  of  those  spiritual  things  con- 
nected with  the  development  of  man  into  the  Divine  Image, 
but  written  in  a  symbolical  style,  agreeably  to  the  method 
prevalent  among  the  ancients — a  style  founded  in  the  relation- 
ship which  a  high  state  of  human  excellence  perceived  to  exist 
between  spiritual  and  natural  things,  and  which  general  style 
has  been  adopted  by  God  as  the  true  vehicle  for  all  his  revela- 
tions. 

The  communication  of  spiritual  intelligence  is  the  chief  end 
of  God's  Word.  Although  the  disclosure  of  certain  information 
concerning  the  beginning  of  mundane  things  may  be  considered 
as  coming  within  the  province  of  revelation,  because  without  it 
no  absolute  knowledge  of  such  things  can  be  attained;  yet  the 
main  purpose  of  the  revelation  vouchsafed  to  us  is,  not  to  teach 
God's  arrangements  in  the  laws  and  productions  of  outer  nature, 
but  to  announce  to  us  the  order  and  operation  of  an  inner  life, 
— to  furnish  information  concerning  spiritual  things, — to  |)oint 
out  the  wisdom,  show  the  benignity,  and  exhibit  tlie  love  of 
God  for  the  souls  of  men.  The  Bible  contains  the  moral  and 
spiritual  history  of  our  race, — that  is,  the  history  of  the  interior 
and  undying  things  of  man,  and  it  speaks  of  other  things  in 
subordination  to  this  oljject,  and  uses  them  solely  for  tliat  pur- 
pose. The  natural  cosmogony  of  the  universe  is  not  given 
therein.  Although  this  idea  may  be  reluctantly  received, 
science  and  criticism  leave  no  choice  in  the  matter. 


THE    MAIN    PURPOSE    OF    REVELATION.  15 

How,  then,  it  may  be  asked,  are  we  to  understand  the 
reasons  which  are  given  for  the  ordination  and  keeping  of  the 
sabbath;  namely,  "'In  six  days  the  Lord  made  heaven  and 
earth;  the  sea,  and  all  that  in  them  is,  and  rested  the  seventh 
day;  wherefore  the  Lord  blessed  the  sabbath  day,  and  hallowed 
it  "  ?  *     This  point  deserves  a  moment's  attention. 

The  Israelitish  people,  at  the  time  the  commandments  were 
given,  had  sunk  very  deeply  into  a  gross  and  sensual  condition. 
They  had  scarcely  any  conception  of  religious  truth,  and  they 
were  withheld  from  the  ignorance  and  wickedness  of  open  idola- 
try more  from  the  fear  of  consequences  than  from  any  real  knowl- 
edge or  love  of  God.  The  interior  truths,  expressed  under  the 
symbols  of  six  days'  creation,  had  even  then  long  been  mistaken 
for  a  matter-of-fact  history;  and,  therefore,  a  reference  to  it 
(for  some  writing,  or  memorial  declaring  it,  was  evidently 
known  to  them)  as  an  apparent  and  not  as  a  genuine  truth, 
became  serviceable  and  useful  to  a  people  circumstanced  as 
they  were;  and  who  clung  with  such  pertinacity,  as  all  their 
subsequent  history  proves  them  to  have  done,  to  documentary 
and  traditional  sentiments,  however  erroneous,  provided  they 
had  some  association  with  their  own  history,  f 

*  Exodus  XX  :  11. 

"  Isit  not  a  harsh  and  forced  interpretation  to  suppose  that  the  six  days  in 
verse  9  do  not  mean  the  same  as  the  six  days  in  verse  11,  but  that,  in  this  List 
place,  they  mean  six  periods?  In  reading  through  the  11th  verse,  it  is  ex- 
tremely difficult  to  believe  that  the  seventh  day  is  a  long  period,  and  the  sab- 
hath  day  an  ordinary  day;  that  is,  that  the  same  word  '  day  '  should  be  used 
in  two  such  totally  different  senses  in  the  same  short  sentence,  and  without 
any  explanation." — Scripture  and  Science  not  at  Variance.  By  J.  H.  Pratt. 
M.A.,  Archdeacon  of  Calcutta,  1859.     Third  edition,  p.  41,  note. 

t  That  the  Scriptures  contain  a  great  variety  of  statements  which  are 
mere  adaptations  to  the  prevailing  ideas  of  the  times  in  which  they  were 
produced  is  well  known.  That  this  is  the  case  in  the  matter  referred  to 
seems  evident,  because  it  will  hardly  be  pretended  that  God  had  so  to  work 
during  the  six  days  of  creation  as  to  experience  fatigue  and  require  repose 
upon  the  seventh.  Moreover,  in  the  repetition  of  the  commandment,  given 
in  Deuteronomy  v.,  the  above  reason  for  the  institution  of  the  sabbath  is 
altogether  omitted,  and,  instead  thereof,  the  sons  of  Israel  were  told  that 
it  was  to  be  kept  in  remembrance  of  their  having  been  delivered  from 
servitude  in  Egypt;  which  reason,  historically,  is  a  pure  accommodation  to 
the  ideas  of  the  Israelites  in  respect  to  that  event. 


16  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

Besides  the  reason  for  alluding  to  the  six  days'  work  in  the 
commandment,  founded  on  an  apparent  truth,  and  adopted  in 
accommodation  to  the  prejudices  of  the  people,  there  is  another 
cause  founded  on  genuine  truth,  and  suited  to  the  intellectual 
discernment  of  studious  minds. 

The  sabbath  was  instituted  for  a  sacred  purpose;  it  was  to  be 
a  day  in  which  spiritual  things  were  to  receive  special  and  dis- 
tinguished attention  on  the  part  of  man,  because  (as  all  the 
institutions  essentially  Israelitish  were  representative)  it  rep- 
resented the  peace  and  holiness  of  the  Lord  in  having  accom- 
plished the  work  to  which  the  first  of  Genesis  relates,  considered 
in  its  internal,  which  is  its  genuine,  sense.  When  we  see, 
what  by  and  by  we  shall  endeavour  to  prove,  that  that  work 
was  a  spiritual  process,  by  which,  through  six  successive  stages, 
humanity  was  developed  into  the  image  of  God;  and  Avhen  we 
further  remember  that  such  development  must  have  been  the 
Lord's  own  merciful  work,  then  we  shall  be  able  to  see  the  force 
and  reasonableness  of  the  argument  which  the  commandment 
asserts.  It  refers  to  a  process  through  which  it  had  pleased  the 
Lord  to  raise  man  into  a  state  of  spiritual  excellence,  and  at  the 
same  time  regards  this  process  as  essential  to  the  security  of  all 
the  privileges  which  the  sabbath  not  only  represented,  but  which, 
as  a  selected  portion  of  time,  it  was  to  be  employed  as  a  means 
for  upholding.  The  literal  structure,  then,  of  the  reason  for 
observing  the  sabbath  is  in  conformity  with  the  literal  structure 
of  the  first  of  Genesis,  because  they  both  relate  to  the  same  spir- 
itual fact,  and  conduce  to  the  internal  rest,  peace,  and  sanctity 
of  man.  The  people,  at  the  time  of  the  Exodus,  had  long  mis- 
taken the  outer  sense  of  this  latter  document  for  its  actual  mean- 
ing; but  the  reason  adverted  to  was  not  written  to  confirm  them 
in  that  error;  its  true  object  was  to  recognize  its  spiritual  design, 
and,  therefore,  it  is  referred  to  in  a  similar  style  of  expres- 
sion,— a  style  which  Inspiration, — considered  as  the  utterance 
of  those  living  sentiments  which  were  to  have  responses  in 
perpetuated  humanity, — preferred  to  adopt. 

These  considerations  show  very  satisfactorily  that  the  Mosaic 
description  is  not  to  be  received  as  a  circumstantial  history 
of  physical  creation.  The  best  minds  have  been  compelled,  by 
irresistible  evidence,  to  abandon  as  erroneous  the  popular  and 


DIFFICULTIES    OF    THE    LITERAL   SENSE.  17 

long-standing  view  which  has  been  cherished  concerning  it: 
and  although  great  efforts  have  been  made  to  sustain  the  idea 
of  its  cosmogonal  character  in  some  sense,  yet  it  is  evident, 
from  the  specimens  of  those  efforts  which  have  been  adduced, 
that  such  senses  are  not  those  which  Moses  intended.  But  the 
giving  up  of  such  an  interpretation  of  the  narrative  by  no  means 
involves  any  impeachment  of  its  Divine  authenticity:  that 
fact  concerning  it  stands  upon  other  grounds,  and  it  is  in- 
dicated, rather  by  the  intellectual  experiences  of  mankind, 
than  by  any  agreement  of  its  statements  with  mundane  phe- 
nomena. 

However,  rational  investigation  and  the  appliances  of  science 
have  not  only  disturbed  the  erroneous  interpretations  which 
have  so  long  weighed  upon  this  portion  of  God's  Word;  they 
also  bring  considerations  which  extensively  affect  the  supposed 
historical  character  of  several  succeeding  chapters. 

For  instance,  how  difficult  is  it  to  conceive  that  Eve  was 
really  made  from  a  rib  taken  from  Adam  during  a  deep  sleep 
induced  upon  him  for  the  purpose; — that  a  tree  could  produce 
the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil; — that  a  serpent  was  capable  of 
speech,  and  reasoned  so  successfully  with  the  woman  as  to 
induce  her  to  violate  the  command  of  God  ! 

Moreover,  in  the  fourth  chapter  there  is  an  indication  of  the 
existence  of  another  race  of  men  besides  those  described  as  the 
descendants  of  Adam.  When  Cain  went  forth  from  the  face  of 
the  Lord,  it  is  said  that  a  mark  was  set  upon  him,  lest  any 
finding  him  might  slay  him.  At  that  period  Cain  was  the 
only  surviving  descendant  of  Adam,  who,  with  his  mother.  Eve, 
made  only  three  in  existence.  Why,  then,  set  a  mark  upon  him 
to  prevent  others  from  slaying  him,  if  there  were  no  other 
persons  than  his  father  and  mother  to  perpetrate  the  deed  ? 
Surely,  the  circumstance  of  imposing  a  mark  for  such  a  purpose 
plainly  indicates  to  historical  criticism  the  existence  of  another 
race  besides  that  of  Adam.  There  is  also  another  fact,  leading 
to  the  same  conclusion,  related  in  the  same  chapter.  Cain  is 
described  to  have  possessed  a  wife;  but  there  is  no  intimation 
of  her  origin:  he  also  had  a  son,  and  built  a  city  in  the  land  of 
Nod;  which  circumstances  plainly  indicate  that  a  number  of 
persons  must  have  been  there  collected,  that  some  of  them 
4 


18  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    IXSPIRATION. 

must  have  been  acquainted  with  the  arts,  and  many  of  them 
industriously  employed  in  erecting  required  habitations.  Farther 
on  it  is  related  that  the  sons  of  God,  who  are  commonly  under- 
stood to  have  been  angels,  or  at  least  beings  superior  to  mankind, 
fell  in  love  with  the  daughters  of  men,  and  thereby  originated 
a  progeny  that  was  mighty  and  valiant.  We  are  also  informed 
that  the  ordinary  period  of  human  life  extended  over  several 
hundred  years,  and  that  the  Lord  repented  that  he  had  made 
man  upon  the  earth.  These,  and  many  other  statements  which 
could  be  easily  selected,  forbid  both  science  and  criticism  to 
approach  them,  if  they  are  to  be  received  as  real  and  credible 
history. 

This,  however,  was  not  their  purpose.  The  meaning  of  these 
relations  will  be  discussed  in  its  proper  place;  we  can  here  only 
generally  observe  that  they,  with  all  the  other  peculiarities 
recorded  in  the  first  eleven  chapters  of  Genesis,  were  never 
intended  to  convey  to  mankind  any  information  respecting  the 
natural  world  or  the  early  history  of  its  inhabitants. 

We  believe  that  their  true  intention  was  to  describe  the  moral 
and  spiritual  states  which  distinguished  the  people  of  primeval 
times;  and  that  they  are  related  in  an  historical  form,  because 
that  was  the  method  of  speaking  of  such  things  common  to  those 
early  periods  of  civilized  life. 


CHAPTER  TI. 
GENERAL  STRUCTURE  OF  THE  NARRATIVE  (Continued). 

"  All  who  have  treated  of  divine  subjects,  whether  Greeks  or  Barbarians,  industri- 
ously involved  the  beginning  of  things,  and  delivered  the  truth  in  enigmas, 
signs,  and  symbols,  in  allegories  and  metaphors,  and  other  such  figures." — 
Clement  of  Alexandria.     Strom.  1.  v.,  p.  658.     Ox.  Ed. 

There  are  few  facts  better  established  by  learned  criticism 
than  that  the  histories  pretending  to  describe  the  commence- 
ment of  the  Eastern  and  Western  nations  of  antiquity  are  of 
a  singularly  allegorical  kind,  partaking  more  of  the  spirit  of 
mythology  than  history,  and  leaning  rather  to  the  character  of 
poetic  imagery  than  historic  truth.  The  first  written  intimations 
which  we  have  of  the  beginning  of  society  in  India,  Persia,  and 
Egypt  are  all  of  a  mythological  kind.  If  we  examine  the 
documents  which  have  come  down  to  our  own  time  relating  to 
the  commencement  of  the  Scythian,  Celtic,  and  Scandinavian 
nations,  the  same  fact  is  observable.  And  every  one  is  aware 
how  peculiarly  applicable  these  remarks  are  to  what  is  said  of 
the  origin  of  the  more  recent  nations  of  Greece  and  Rome.  The 
city  of  Boeotia,  in  the  former,  is  related  to  have  been  built  by 
men  grown  from  dragon's  teeth,  which  Cadmus  had  sown  for 
the  purpose;  and  Rome  is  said  to  have  been  founded  by 
Romulus,  who,  with  his  brother  Remus,  were  rescued,  in 
infancy,  from  the  Tiber,  and  subsequently  suckled  by  a  wolf. 
Nor  are  the  statements  made  in  connection  with  the  beginning 
of  our  own  country  entirely  freed  from  mythos  ;  but  no  one 
regards  them,  and  the  others  referred  to,  as  being  historically 
true,  and  yet  every  one  must  admit  that  they  had  a  significance 
well  understood  at  the  time  they  were  originally  conceived.  It 
was  evidently  the  genius  of  the  people  in  those  times  to  express 
some  facts  in  fable.  The  fables,  however,  have  remained,  from 
their  having  acquired  a  permanency  in  writing;  but  their 
significance  has  perished,  because  this  was  not  recorded,  and 

19 


20  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

also  because  the  genus  to  which  it  was  perceptil)le  has  passed 
away. 

These  facts  are  incontestable,  and  we  are  led  from  theni  to 
conclude  that  the  documents  of  Genesis,  j)opularly  regarded  as 
a  description  of  the  origin  of  the  world,  the  beginning  of 
humanity,  and  the  first  constitution  and  progress  of  society,  are 
somewhat  of  a  similar  character,  and  that  they  describe  the 
moral  sentiments  and  religious  conditions  of  men  through  their 
corresponding  images  in  nature. 

The  peculiar  genus  of  the  people  by  whom  the  mythological 
history  of  nations  was  constructed  and  understood  was  but  the 
remains  of  a  very  superior  condition  of  human  character.  Their 
mythic  narratives  were,  for  the  most  part,  expressed  through 
the  fanciful  selection  of  arbitrary  and  conventional  images.  But 
in  a  more  remote  antiquity — nearer  those  times  which  the  poets 
have  described  to  be  the  golden  age — men  lived  under  the  influ- 
ence of  more  enlightened  perceptions  and  sounder  views.  Their 
superior  states  must  have  enabled  them  to  see  in  natural  objects 
the  actual  symbols  of  those  divine  and  spiritual  sentiments  out 
of  which  they  had  originated;  and,  under  the  influence  of  such 
a  fact,  it  is  easy  to  imagine  that  they  would  be  led  to  express 
their  own  thoughts  and  sensations  by  means  of  appropriate 
images  drawn  from  tlie  theatre  of  nature.  And  we  conceive 
that  it  was  in  such  times,  and  Iw  men  of  this  genus,  by  whom, 
under  tlie  Divine  auspices,  the  early  chapters  of  Genesis  were 
produced.  Even  Josephus,  Pharisee  as  he  was,  informs  us 
that  Moses  "spoke  somethings  wisely,  but  enigmatically,  and 
under  a  decent  allegory  "  ;  and  in  another  place  he  asserts  that, 
after  the  description  of  the  seventh  day,  "he  began  to  talk 
philosophically  ";*  that  is,  to  write  his  history  in  some  sym- 
bolical manner. 

The  more  deeply  we  look  into  ancient  history,  the  more  cer- 
tainly shall  we  be  convinced  that  the  style  of  writing  which 
then  prevailed  was  of  an  allegorical  character,  and  tiiat  the  outer 
tilings  narrated  can  only  be  considered  as  the  vehicles  employed 
for  the  ex]iression  of  some  inward  sentiment  and  thought. 
Concerning  this,  many  aut]ioriti(^s  could  lie  produced,  from  the 
"Fathers"   and  others,  if  it  were  needful  for  so  clear  a  truth. 

*See  "Antiquity  of  the  .Tews,"  Preface,  sec.  4,  chap.  1,  sec.  1. 


ANCIENT    HISTORY    ALLEGORICAL.  21 

Origen,  however,  plaiiily  asserts  that  the  narratives  describing 
tlie  making  of  woman  and  the  conversation  of  the  serpent  were 
allegories  expressive  of  some  other  facts  than  those  which 
appear.  * 

The  period  of  actual  liistory,  apart  from  that  contained  in  the 
Bible,  cannot  be  traced  with  any  certainty  far  lieyond  the 
period  of  the  first  Olympiad,  f  The  narratives  produced  before 
that  time,  whatever  might  have  been  their  precise  meaning,  are 
found  to  be  pregnant  with  marvellous  relations.  Subsequently 
this  method  of  expression  fell  into  disuse.  The  genus  of  the 
people  in  after  ages  became  less  poetic  and  more  matter-of-fact; 
and  every  one  now  perceives  that  the  wonders  indicated  in  those 
fragmental  writings  of  antiquity  which  have  come  down  to  our 
time  are  not  to  be  received  in  their  literal  sense. 

This  has  been  the  fate  of  those  profane  documents,  because, 
not  having  been  hallowed  by  the  sentiments  of  religious  respect, 
they  have  been  subjected  to  freer  thought.  Yet  the  statements 
which  are  contained  in  the  Bible  narratives  before  the  time  of 
Abraham  are  not  less  amazing;  and  mankind  would  long  ago 
have  acknowledged  their  mythic  character  but  for  the  powerful 
influence  of  a  traditional  opinion  to  the  contrary.  This,  how- 
ever, can  have  but  little  real  weight  when  it  is  remembered  that 
such  traditions  were  originated  by  ecclesiastical  authority,  at  a 
time  when  the  true  signification  of  those  writings  had  long 
been  overlooked. 

It  is  well  known  that  there  is  a  remai'kable  resemblance  in 
points  between  several  events  mentioned  in  acknowledged  myth- 
ology and  some  of  the  circumstances  related  in  the  early  por- 
tions of  Genesis;  X  fis,  for  instance,  between  the  flood  of  Deu- 
calion and  that  of  Noah,  and  between  the  Gigantes  and  Titanes 
of  the  Greeks  and  the  giants  and-  mighty  men  spoken  of  in 
Genesis  vi:  4.  It  has  been  usual  to  regard  those  points  of 
Attic  and  Oriental  mythology  which  resemble  the  Scripture  nar- 

*  Cont.  Cels.  1.  iv.,  p.  187,  Ed.  Sp.  Referred  to  by  the  Kev.  S.  Noble, 
"Plen.irv  Inspiratiou,"  p.  .5.59. 

t  Tluit  is,  775  years  before  the  birth  of  Christ,  and  22  years  before  the 
foundation  of  Rome. 

JSee  "  Analysis  of  Ancient  Mytholoj^y, "  by  Jacob  Bryant.  And  the  Dis- 
sertations of  Sir  William  Jones  in  the  "Asiatic  Researches." 


22       •  THE   WORD   AND    ITS   INSPIRATION. 

ratives,  to  have  been  derived  therefrom,  and  to  consider  that  the 
other  descriptions  with  which  we  find  them  associated  are  the 
legendary  embellishments  of  the  respective  nations  in  which 
they  were  produced.  This  might  have  been  the  case.  But  if 
so,  it  may  be  considered  as  offering  some  proof  that  the  people 
esteemed  such  narratives  (whether  communicated  to  them  from 
traditional  or  documentary  sources  matters  not)  as  embodying 
some  other  idea  than  what  is  literally  expressed.  They  would 
hardly  have  chosen  what  they  believed  to  have  been  the  actual 
facts  pertaining  to  a  more  ancient  people,  to  express  the  mytho- 
logical history  of  themselves.  They  must  have  seen,  in  some 
measure,  the  esoteric  meaning  of  what  they  so  selected,  and 
thence  its  suitability  for  being  incorporated  into  their  own  mys- 
tic relations.  The  extravagances  of  those  relations,  of  course, 
render  them  incredible  as  facts;  nevertheless,  they  must  have 
been  designed  to  express  some  ideas  and  sentiments  readily 
understood  at  the  time  of  their  origination.  The  adoption  of 
points  to  be  found  in  Scripture  narratives  into  the  faVjulous  rela- 
tion of  later  times,  evidently  suggests  that  they  were  considered 
of  a  figurative  character. 

It  is  readily  admitted  that  mythological  and  traditional  inti- 
mations of  the  deluge  are  to  be  found  among  all  nations.  Sculp- 
tures among  the  Egyptian  antiquities,  and  pictures  among  the 
more  recent  nations  of  Mexico  and  Peru,  have  been  discovered, 
which  are  interpreted  to  be  the  memorials  of  that  catastrophe. 
It  is  also  said  that  ceremonies  and  sacrificial  rites  were  insti- 
tuted for  its  commemoration  among  the  Egyptians,  Chaldeans, 
Phffinicians,  Greeks,  Celts,  and  Scythians.*  Inscriptions  are 
collected,  and  even  an  ancient  medal  and  a  vase  have  been  pro- 
duced, having  upon  them  objects  alluding  to  the  deluge,  f  These 
circumstances  are  commonly  referred  to  as  affording  the  most 
triumphant  jiroofs  that  the  Noachic  deluge  was  a  flood  of  waters, 
in  agreement  with  the  literal  sense  of  the  narration.     But  we 

*Dr.  Pye  Siiiith,  on  "Scripture  and  Geology."  Second  edition,  p.  101. 
.See  also  "Records  of  Creation."  By  John  Bird  Sumner,  M.A.  Second 
edition,  p.  39. 

t  Dr.  Wiseman's  "Lectures  on  the  Connection  between  Science  and 
Revealed  Religion."  Second  edition,  pp.  321,  336,  where  engravings  are 
inserted. 


ANCIENT    HISTORY    ALLEGORICAL.  23 

contend  that  all  these  facts  may  be  granted,  and  yet  that  con- 
clusion be  consistently  denied. 

It  is  evident  that  the  narrative  of  the  flood  points  to  a  very 
awful  circumstance  brought  about  by  the  wickedness  of  man. 
The  language,  however,  in  which  it  was  originally  described 
may  still  be  figurative,  and  the  evidences  referred  to  nothing 
more  than  the  traditional  indications  of  the  event  so  related. 
All  those  legends  and  historical  notices  must  have  sprung  from 
one  locality  and  the  same  description;  they,  therefore,  do  not 
prove  that  the  literal  sense  of  such  description  is  to  be  received 
as  credible  history;  they  only  preserve  some  general  reminis- 
cences of  the  mode  in  which  the  circumstance  was  originally 
related,  and  do  not  exhibit  its  signification.  That  stands  upon 
other  ground,  and  has  to  be  deciphered  by  other  means. 

There  cannot  be  any  reasonable  doubt  that  the  early  portions 
of  Genesis  were  the  productions  of  a  period  in  which  it  was 
customary  for  mankind  to  express  their  religious  states  and 
sentiments  in  the  form  of  allegory.  If,  then,  those  documents 
really  did  belong  to  such  a  period,  and  were  the  performances 
of  such  a  genus,  it  is  evident  that  they  must  have  partaken  of 
such  a  style;*  and,  therefore,  they  are  not  to  be  understood  in 
the  sense  which  the  letter  conveys;  that  would  be  a  certain  dis- 
tortion of  their  true  meaning. 

In  referring  the  production  of  those  remarkable  documents 

*Tliis  argumeut  is  very  beautifully  stated  in  the  following  passage:— 
"  Let  it  for  a  moment  l)e  supposed  that  it  had  pleased  the  Divine  Majesty  to 
grant  an  immediate  revelation  of  his  authority  and  his  grace  to  the  Athe- 
nians, in  the  age  of  Socrates,  Plato,  and  Aristotle,  and  for  their  use  ;  -vve  may 
reverentially  believe  that,  in  such  a  case,  the  communication  would  have 
been  exjiressed  in  the  terms  and  phrases  to  which  they  had  habituated  them- 
selves, and  moulded  upon  a  system  of  references  to  the  natural  scenery 
around  them,  to  their  modes  of  action  in  social  life,  and  to  their  current 
notions  upon  all  other  subjects.  Not  only  would  the  diction  have  been  pure 
Greek,  but  the  figures,  the  allusions,  and  the  illustrations,  of  whatever  kind, 
would  also  have  been  Attic.  The  Hebraized  style  which  was  adapted  to  the 
people  of  Israel,  would  have  failed  to  convey  just  sentiments  to  the  men  of 
Greece  ;  for,  thongli  it  would  not  have  been  absolutely  unintelligible,  the 
collateral  ideas  would  have  been  misapprehended,  flxlse  bye-notions  would 
have  insinuated  themselves,  and  the  principal  sentiments,  to  inculcate  which  ' 
was  the  object  of  the  whole  process,  would  have  been  grievously  distorted." 
— Dr.  Pye  Smith,  "  Scripture  and  Geology,''''  p.  239. 


24  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

to  the  period  in  which  that  pecuHiir  genus  prevailed,  we  do  not 
mean  to  insinuate  that  they  are  the  mere  fanciful  results  of  that 
genus.  We  regard  them  as  containing  the  inspiration  of  the 
Almighty,  and  venerate  them  as  portions  of  the  pure  Word  of 
God.  What  we  intend  by  this  reference  is,  that  God  was 
pleased  to  adopt,  as  the  vehicle  for  his  communications,  the 
mode  and  style  then  prevalent  with  men,  yet  so  regulating  the 
ex2:»ressions  and  marshalling  the  narrative  that  it  should  contain 
no  Avord,  indicate  no  sentiment,  declare  no  story,  but  what  was 
the  exact  counterpart  of  some  spiritual  things. 

This  characteristic,  indeed,  must  be  acknowledged  to  pervade 
the  whole  Word  of  God,  though  the  representations  that  were 
selected  in  those  remote  times  appear  to  have  been  more  recon- 
dite than  those  which  were  adopted  at  a  later  period,  in  conse- 
quence of  mankind  having  begun  to  mistake  their  sense  or 
falsify  their  meaning. 

The  Scriptures  peculiarly  Israelitish  commence  with  the  his- 
tory of  the  house  of  Abram:  that  historv,  indeed,  contains 
general  facts,  as  they  are  described;  nevertheless,  these  facts  are 
to  be  considered  as  the  mediums  for  containing,  and  representa- 
tively expressing,  those  interior  sentiments  and  spiritual  ideas 
which  are  proper  to  them  as  a  Revelation.  The  mere  literal 
facts  and  history  can  hardly,  in  themselves,  be  viewed  as  revela- 
tions: it  would  not  be  satisfactory  to  suppose  that  any  other 
divine  interference  with  their  writings  took  place  than  was 
requisite  to  determine  the  particular  points  which  were  to  be 
stated  as  the  true  representations  of  spiritual  realities,  the  dis- 
closure of  which  must  have  been  their  main  object,  considered 
as  revelations  from  God. 

But  the  character  of  the  Bible  narratives  anterior  to  the  time 
of  Abram,  though  equally  divine,  is  observed  to  be  very  differ- 
ent in  their  literal  structure;  and  some  critics,  from  an  apparent 
irregularity  in  the  arrangement,  have  considered  them  frag- 
mentary selections,  while  others  pronounce  them  to  be  distinct 
compositions.*  However  this  may  be,  they  are  plainly  the 
productions  of  another  hand  than  that  which  has  written  the 
history  of  the  house  of  Abram;  and  there  is  some  reason  to 

*See  Vater's  "  Fiajimcnt  Hypothesis;  "  Eichliorn's  "  Document  Hypothe- 
sis ;"  and  Dr.  P.  Smith's  "Geology  and  Scripture,"  note,  p.  202. 


THE    NARRATIVE    INSPIRED.  25 

believe  that  they  formed  a  portion  of  a  more  ancient  revelation 
from  God  than  that  which  is  now  extant.  Moses  himself  has 
intimated  that  there  were  books  of  divine  authority  among 
mankind  antecedent  to  his  time.  He  has  referred  to  them  by 
name,  cited  passages  from  them,  and  embodied  them  in  his  own 
Pentateuch.  Thus,  after  describing  the  several  journeyings  of 
the  sons  of  Israel,  and  particularly  their  removal  from  Zared 
to  the  other  side  of  Arnon,  he  writes,  "  Wherefore  it  is  said  in 
the  Book  of  the  Wars  of  Jehovah,  What  he  did  in  the  Red  sea, 
and  in  the  brooks  of  Arnon,  and  the  streams  of  the  brook  that 
goeth  down  to  the  dwelling  of  Ar,  and  lieth  upon  the  border  of 
Moab."  *  Again,  after  announcing  the  conquest  of  the  Israelites 
over  the  Ammonites  and  the  villages  of  Heshbon,  he  writes, 
"Wherefore  say  the  Enunciations"  (HammosheUm,  i.e.,  the 
books  of  the  Enunciations, — as  we  say  Prophets,  for  the  books 
of  the  Prophets;  which  idea  is  obscured  by  the  common  trans- 
lation, "  They  that  speak  in  proverbs  "  ),  "Come  unto  Heshbon, 
let  the  city  of  Sihon  be  built  and  prepared:  for  there  is  a  fire 
gone  out  of  Heshbon,  and  a  flame  from  the  city  of  Sihon:  it 
hath  consumed  Ar  of  Moab,  and  the  lords  of  the  high  places  of 
Arnon.  "f  These  passages  announce  the  existence  of  two  books, 
one  of  which  was  distinguished  by  an  historical,  and  the  other 
by  a  prophetical,  character.  In  other  portions  of  the  Word  we 
find  citations  from  another  work,  called  the  "  Book  of  Jasher," 
and  the  writers  apply  what  they  quoted  from  it  to  events  which 
were  then  in  the  course  of  being  accomplished.  | 

That  those  ancient  books  w^ere  produced  under  divine  super- 
intendence, and  designed  for  the  spiritual  guidance  of  the 
people  to  whom  they  were  originally  vouchsafed,  seems  evident, 
from  the  formal  manner  in  which  they  are  referred  to,  and  the 
authority  conceded  to  them.  That  one  of  them  was  constructed 
on  the  principle  of  expressing  mental  things  in  an   historical 

*Numb.  xxi.  14.  As  a  fact  bearing  \ipon  the  great  antiquity  of  tbe  Book 
here  cited  from,  Dr.  Lamb,  Master  of  Corpus  Christi  College, Cambridge,  has 
remarked,  "that  in  this  short  pas.sage  we  find  a  verb  (tiaAci)  which  occurs 
nowhere  else  in  the  Bible." — "■  Hehretv  Hieroglyphics,''''  p.  9.  It  is  considered 
to  have  been  a  word  obsolete  in  the  time  of  Moses,  and  thus  that  the  book 
in  which  it  occurs  must  have  been  a  production  long  anterior  to  his  time. 

fNumb.  xxi.  27,  28.  J  Josh.  x.  12,  13  ;  2  Sam.  i.  17,  18. 


26  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

manner,  plainly  appears  from  the  passa'ge  that  is  quoted  from 
it.  As,  then,  it  is  certain  that  the  early  pt)rtions  of  Genesis  are 
distinguished  by  a  peculiarity  of  composition,  proving  them  to 
be  documents  of  an  entirely  different  character  from  those  to 
which  they  are  prefixed,  there  can  be  little  doubt  of  their  hav- 
ing originally  formed  a  part  of  those  more  ancient  divine  records, 
the  existence  of  which,  in  some  remote  period,  is  certain  from 
the  fragments  which  remain.* 

This  conclusion  does  not  rest  merely  upon  the  probabilities 
of  rational  inference:  there  is  some  scriptural  attestation  of  the 
fact.  The  fifth  chapter  of  Genesis  commences  with  the  declara- 
tion, "This  is  the  Book  of  the  generations  of  Adam,"  and 
thereupon  follows,  in  a  style  agreeable  to  those  times,  a  record 
of  all  his  descendants  down  to  Noah  and  his  sons.  Doubtless 
this  Book  of  Generations  was  a  written  document,  containing  the 
circumstances  which  the  author  of  the  Pentateuch  has  cited, 
and  acknowledged  in  this  instance,  as  we  have  seen  he  did  in 
others,  f 

As,  then,  there  is  testimony  sufficient  to  show  that  the 
Antediluvian  History  in  the  Bible  was  produced  among  a  people 
whose  genus  led  them  to  express  their  perceptions  of  interior 
and  spiritual  truth  by  means  of  external  and  natural  symbols, 
occasionally  arranged  in  the  form  of  historic  narrative,  we 
think  we  may  most  fairly  and  reasonably  arrive  at  the  general 
conclusion  that  those  documents  were  never  intended  to  record 
the  origin  of  mundane  things,  to  express  the  phenomena  of 
matter,  or  to  deliver  the  social,  civil,  or  political  histor}-  of  the 
first  men.  Their  true  purpose  is  of  a  much  more  sacred  and 
religious  character,  which  we  shall  endeavour  to  show.  We 
shall  also,  in  addition  to  the  general  remarks  which  have  now 
been  made,  venture  to  adduce,  in  their  jjroper  places,  such 
other  particular  reasons  for  the  conclusion  arrived  at  concern- 
ing the  figurative  structure  of  the  Antediluvian  History  as  the 

*  "  We  have  no  slight  reasons  for  supposing  that  Moses  compiled  the  chief 
parts  of  the  Book  of  Genesis,  by  arranging  and  connecting  ancient  memoranda, 
under  the  Divine  direction." — Dr.  Pye  Smith,  '■^Scripture  and  Geology.''^ 
Second  edition,  p.  20'2. 

f  "  It  means,"  says  Dr.  A.  Clarke,  '"  the  account  or  register  of  the  genera- 
tion of  Adam  or  his  descendants." 


THE    SENSE    IN    WHICH    THE    WORD    IS    SIMPLE.  27 

specific  points  may  seem  to  require.  It  is,  however,  always  to 
be  borne  in  mind  that  tliose  reasons  are  designed  to  weigh 
only  against  the  common  apprehension  of  its  literal  sense;  and, 
also,  that  in  no  case  are  they  to  be  considered  as  questioning 
the  divine  origination  of  the  documents,  or  suggesting  doubts 
as  to  their  spiritual  value  and  purpose.  We  have  deemed  it 
requisite  to  make  these  statements,  because  there  are  some  who 
suppose  that  the  rejection  of  a  long-standing  interpretation  is 
the  same  thing  as  throwing  discredit  upon  the  documents. 
Against  this  we  solepinly  protest.  We  renounce  nothing  re- 
specting those  narratives  but  that  common  opinion  concerning 
them,  which  every  sincere  student  has  found  it  difficult  to  hold. 
We  receive  them  as  a  genuine  portion  of  the  veritable  Word  of 
God,  and,  therefore,  we  regard  them  as  a  Divine  Revelation 
concerning  celestial  and  spiritual  things;  and  look  upon  every 
single  expression  they  contain  to  be  significant  of  some  interior 
affection  and  thought  proper  to  man  in  the  process  of  his  reli- 
gious development,  or  attendant  upon  him  during  the  calamity 
of  his  transgression. 

The  style  in  which  these  documents  is  composed  is  tlie  first 
of  which  we  have  any  account,  and  perhaps  it  is  the  best 
adapted  for  the  embodiment  of  di\"ine  communication;  because 
it  appears  to  have  been  a  method  of  expression  which  pre- 
vailed among  an  orderly  and  illuminated  people,  who  enjoyed 
the  advantages  of  interior  perception,  and  displayed  an  activity 
of  intellectual  principle  very  superior  to  any  who  have  lived 
in  subsequent  ages.  This  was  plainly  referred  to  by  Hannah, 
when  she  said,  "Speak  ye  what  is  high,  let  what  is  ancient 
come  forth  from  your  mouth,  for  the  Lord  is  a  God  of  knowl- 
edge";* and  also  by  the  Psalmist,  when  he  said,  "Incline 
your  ears  to  the  words  of  my  mouth.  I  will  open  my  mouth 
in  a  parable:  I  will  utter  dark  sayings  of  old:  which  we  have 
heard  and  known,  and  our  fathers  have  told  us. ' '  f 

There  are  two  modes  of  speaking  of  the  Scriptures,  frequently 
adopted,  to  which,  in  concluding  these  remarks,  it  will  be 
useful  to  refer. 

The  first  is,  that  the  statements  of  the  Scriptures  must  be 
implicith"  and  reverentially  received,   whether  we  understand 

*  1  Sam.  ii.  3  :     Improved  Translation.  t  Psa.  Ixxviii.  1  3. 


28  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

them  or  not;  and  that  it  is  mere  presumption  for  man,  with  his 
carnal  mind  and  puny  intellect,  to  attempt  to  comprehend 
those  wonderful  things  which  it  has  pleased  God  to  deliver, 
rather  for  his  faith  than  his  knowledge!  This  may  be  a  pious 
submission  to  divine  authority,  taking  its  rise  in  religious  feel- 
ing; but  it  is  certainly  mistaken  in  its  application.  We  have 
no  doubt  that  such  obedience  is  very  becoming,  provided  it  be 
accompanied  with  intelligence;  but  in  the  case  before  us  it 
wants  the  ingredient  necessary  to  enlighten  and  give  it  value. 
Those  who  can  satisfy  themselves  with  such  notions  are,  there- 
fore, beyond  our  reasonings.  We  can  render  them  little  service. 
They  have  faith  for  anything  but  that  free  and  sensible  enquiry 
into  the  legitimate  meaning  of  God's  Word  which  we  regard  to 
be  the  duty  and  prerogative  of  man. 

The  second  mode  is  that  which  asserts  that  the  Scriptures  are 
"  very  simple  in  their  structure,"  and  describes  them  as  being 
for  '  *•  simple  minds, "  "  plain  readers, "  "  the  common  people, ' ' 
"  the  unlearned,"  and  so  forth:  thereby  insinuating  that  those 
explanations  are  to  be  suspected  which  require  labour,  research, 
and  intellectual  culture  for  their  discovery  and  comprehension. 
It  is  readily  granted  that  the  Scriptures  are  so  Avritten  as  to  be 
serviceable  even  to  the  lowest  state  of  human  apprehension,  but 
we  do  not  believe  that  such  a  state  comprehends  the  Avhole 
truth  contained  in  any  one  passage  that  may  be  presented  to 
it.  *  There  is  just  so  much  seen  as  the  intellectual  condition 
will  admit  of,  and  no  more.  The  highest  disclosures  of  Divine 
wisdom  are  not  to  be  discerned  by  the  lowest  states  of  the 
human  mind.  The  simple  may  receive  the  Word  in  simplicity, 
but  the  wise  man  understands  it  in  wisdom,  and  the  latter 
makes  the  nearest  approaches  to  its  true  meaning.  The  Apostle 
declared  the  rule  when  he  said,  "When  I  was  a  child,  I  spake 
as  a  child,  I  understood  as  a  child,  I  thought  as  a  child:  but 
when  I  became  a  man,  I  put  away  childish  things."  f  The 
Word  is  rightly  viewed  when  it  is  regarded  not  only  as  capable 
of   improving  the  heart,   but  also  of  enlightening  the  under- 

*  "Of  those  who  actually  read  the  Scriptures,  multitudes  are  very  imper- 
fectly able  to  understand  most  of  what  they  read." — Timothy  Dwight,  LL.D. 
Sermon  152. 

1 1  Cor.  xiii.  11. 


THE    SENSE    IN    WHICH    THE    WORD    IS    SIMPLE.  29 

standing  ;  and,  therefore,  its  wisdom  must  be  adapted  to  all 
the  advancing  conditions  of  the  human  mind.  It  is  the  wise 
and  friendly  character  of  revelation,  not  only  to  assist  man  in 
his  intellectual  elevation,  but  likewise  to  accompany  him  in 
his  progress,  and  urge  him  onwards  by  calling  attention  to 
superior  heights  not  yet  attained.  If  we  do  not  regard  the 
Word  in  this  light,  we  overlook  much  that  is  solemn  and  inter- 
esting in  its  objects:  in  such  a  case,  its  reality  vanishes  like  a 
meteor,  and  its  spirituality  perishes  like  a  dream. 


CHAPTER  III. 

ORIGINAL  STATE  OF  MAN.— THE  SUCCESSIVE  DEVELOPMENT 
OF  HIS  MENTAL  AND  SPIRITUAL  POWERS  —HIS  DUTY 
AND  PREROGATIVE  AS  AN  IMAGE  OF  GOD.— THE  EXCEL- 
LENCY OF  EVERYTHING  THAT  WAS  MADE. 

"The  foundations  of  religion  and  virtue  being  laid  in  the  mind  and  heart,  the  secret 
dispositions  and  genuine  acts  of  •which  are  invisible,  and  known  only  to  a  man's 
self;  therefore,  the  powers  and  operations  of  the  mind  can  only  be  expressed  in 
figurative  terms  and  external  symhols." — Dr.  John  Clark.  Folio  Collection 
of  Boyle's  Lectures.     Vol.  iii.,  p.  229. 

From  the  facts  and  principles  which  have  been  laid  down, 
we  are  somewhat  prepared  to  consider  the  evidence  for  regard- 
ing the  early  portions  of  Genesis  as  treating,  first,  of  the  original 
state  of  the  most  ancient  people;  next,  of  that  progressive 
development  by  which  they  became  spiritual,  and  at  length 
celestial  men,  when  they  constituted  the  most  ancient  Church; 
afterwards,  of  their  declining  state  and  absolute  fall;  then,  of 
the  rehgious  condition  of  succeeding  generations;  and  finally,  of 
the  state  of  wickedness  which  prevailed  among  the  posterity 
coeval  with  the  flood,  by  which  catastrophe  the  celestial  dis- 
pensation perished. 

Viewed  in  this  light,  assisted  by  the  corroborations  of  other 
parts  of  the  Scriptures,  and  the  facts  of  spiritual  experience,  we 
shall  be  enabled  to  recognize  in  those  portions  of  the  Word  a 
meaning  beautifully  consistent  with  itself,  and  in  perfect  har- 
mony with  all  the  demands  of  a  true  mental  philosopliy;  and, 
at  the  same  time,  disclosing  principles  whereby  may  be  an- 
swered every  requirement  which  the  most  enlarged  idea  of  reve- 
lation can  suggest. 

THE    BEGINNING. 

The  narrative  opens  with  this  beautifully  simple  declara- 
tion :  "In  the  beginning  God  created  the  heaven  and  the 
earth."  The  beginning  certainly  denotes  the  remotest  time 
connected  with  the  history  of  the  human  race;  then    was  the 

30 


MAN    IGNORANT    BUT    INNOCENT.  31 

period  for  commencing  the  operations  subsequently  described. 
But  what  phenomenon  was  about  to  be  produced  ?  We  answer, 
that  it  was  to  be  a  condition  of  humanity,  in  the  higliest 
development  of  which  the  Creator  was  about  to  make  the  image 
and  likeness  of  Himself.  It  was  necessary,  in  the  first  place, 
to  provide  the  plans  through  which  this  development  could  be 
accomplished  in  an  orderly  way.  These  are  called  "  the  heaven 
and  the  earth":  the  /^mren  being  that  internal  constitution  of 
man  which  connects  him  with  a  spiritual  destiny;  and  the 
earth,  that  external  condition  by  which  he  is  related  to  a 
natural  world.  Hence,  heaven,  considered  as  the  kingdom  of 
God,  is  said  to  be  within;*  and  the  earth,  regarded  as  man's 
outer  nature,  is  frequently  called  upon  to  hear  the  Word  of  the 
Lord,  t  Of  the  existence  of  the  internal  and  external  man 
popular  theology  is  sufficiently  cognizant.  The  Apostle  speaks 
of  them  as  the  inner  and  outer  man.  X  From  this  we  learn 
that  revelation  opens  with  the  information  that  man,  b}^  orig- 
inal creation,  was  distinguished  by  an  internal  and  an  external 
nature;  that  the  former  might  be  taken  as  an  indication  that  he 
had  been  endowed  with  immortality,  and  the  latter  as  the 
announcement  of  his  responsibility. 

But  what  were  his  mental  and  moral  possessions  ?  Of  these, 
at  first,  we  think  he  must  have  been  obviously  destitute.  We  can 
hardly  conceive  the  idea  of  man  being  created  with  the  experi- 
ence and  infarmation  which  mental  exertions  and  moral  qualities 
would  seem  to  imply.  Therefore,  his  original  condition,  in  these 
respects,  could  have  differed  but  little  from  those  states  into 
which  he  has  since  been  born.  Thus  he  must  have  been  igno- 
rant, but  innocent,  still  possessing  all  the  capabilities  for  having 
developed  the  highest  perceptions  of  wisdom  and  the  holiest 
principles  of  virtue.  The  state,  which  has  attended  the  begin- 
ning of  man  in  all  ages  of  his  existence,  may  have  been  designed 
to  inform  us  what  was  his  condition  when  first  originated.  Of 
the  process  by  which  this  was  accomplished  we  have  no  revela- 
tion, but  we  are  told  something  of  the  mental  characteristics 

*  Luke  xvii.  21. 

fSee  Isa.  xxxiv.  1;  Jer.  vi.  19;  xxii.  29,  &c.,  &c. 

JEphes.  iii.  16  ;  2  Cor.  iv.  16. 


32  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

that  first  belonged  to  him.  "The  earth"  is  said  to  have  been 
"without  form,  and  void,"  to  denote  that,  as  to  his  external 
nature,  he  was  destitute  of  the  order  which  arises  from  enlight- 
ened teaching,  and  void  of  that  living  excellence  which  springs 
out  of  active  goodness.  To  show  the  accuracy  of  this  view  of 
the  subject,  we  find  that  a  corresponding  state  is  spoken  of  in 
precisely  similar  language.  When  the  Jewish  Church  had 
become  a  desolation,  the  Lord  thus  describes  its  aspect:  "I 
beheld  the  earth,  and,  lo,  it  was  without  form,  and  void;  and 
the  heavens,  and  they  had  no  light " :  *  nor  was  there  any 
' '  man. "  f  "  Darkness, ' '  also,  is  said  to  have  been  ' '  upon  the 
face  of  the  deep,"  for  the  purpose  of  declaring  the  ignorance 
which  then  prevailed  in  the  perceptive  capabilities  of  the  mind. 
Perception  is  the  "face,"  because,  as  is  well  known,  all  its 
ideas  shine  forth  therein,  and  are  indicated  thereby:  the  mind 
is  the  "deep,"  and  hence  recondite  thinking  is  sometimes  so 
expressed. 

This  seems  to  inform  us  very  plainly  that  man,  by  original 
creation,  did  not  possess  either  the  knowledge  or  the  love  of 
divine  things.  This  destitution,  however,  did  not  arise  from 
the  voluntary  rejection  of  those  excellencies,  as  has  been  the 
case  with  men  in  after  ages,  but  because,  as  yet,  they  had  not 
been  communicated.  His  original  state,  therefore,  must  have 
been  one  of  passive  innocence  and  docility.  He  was  gifted  with 
capacities  merely,  that  were  afterwards  to  be  developed,  and  by 
which  it  was  designed  that  he  should  love  his  God  above  all 
things,  and  his  neighbour  as  himself.  He  was  created  perfect  in 
the  degree  of  his  primeval  existence,  but  not  with  the  possession 
of  those  high  things  in  which  his  capabilities  could  result.  The 
degree  was  a  faculty  to  become  great,  but  not  greatness  itself. 
It  is  this  which  distinguishes  humanity  from  the  beasts.  They 
were  at  once  endowed  Avith  all  that  they  were  capable  of,  to  the 
end  that  they  might  obtain  no  more,  and  so  be  beasts;  but  man 
was  created  with  capacities  only  to  the  end  that,  by  their  use,  he 
might  knowingly  progress  in  all  things  that  are  wise  and  good, 
and  so  be  man.  The  perfection  of  the  former,  therefore,  is  their 
imperfection  ;  while  the  deficiencies  of  the  latter  are  the  ground- 
work of  his  eminence. 

*  .Ter.  iv.  23.  t  Jer.  iv.  25. 


THE   MOVING    OF    THE    SPIRIT    OF   GOD.  33 

How  long  man  continued  in  this  primeval  state  there  is  no 
historical  information.  It  is  not  necessary  to  suppose  that  it 
was  any  considerable  time.  Indeed,  it  is  reasonable  to  imagine 
that  it  was  only  of  short  duration.  The  orderly  condition  in 
which  his  capacities  were  created,  would  qualify  him  to  observe 
instructively  the  objects  and  circumstances  by  which  he  was 
surrounded,  and  thence  he  could  acquire  certain  knowledges 
and  moral  impressions,  which  would  constitute  the  intellectual 
materials  on  which  the  divine  influences  were  afterwards  to 
operate.  The  divine  operation  implies  the  possession  of  some- 
thing on  which  to  operate,  and  from  which  the  higher  excellences 
should  be  evolved.  These  had  been  mercifully  provided  in 
the  human  capacities,  and  the  impressions,  ideas,  and  senti- 
ments that  would  be  made  upon  them,  during  their  original  and 
orderly  existence. 

This,  then,  we  conceive  to  have  been  the  state  of  man  up  to 
the  period  when  it  is  said  that  "the  Spirit  of  God  moved 
upon  the  face  of  the  waters."  By  the  Spirit  of  God  moving, 
is  meant  the  divine  influences  acting;  and  the  "waters,"  on 
which  it  is  described  to  have  operated,  are  significant  of  those 
knowledges  which  had  been  previously  acquired.*  These,  by 
innumerable  acts  of  the  divine  mercy,  were  stored  up  in  the 
mind,  and  therein  preserved,  until  that  favourable  time  should 
arrive  when  the  divine  influences  might,  as  it  were,  brood  over 
them,  and  so  endow  them  Avith  spiritual  life.  Those  knowl- 
edges are  here  called  ' '  the  face  of  the  waters, ' '  to  distinguish 
them  from  that  ignorance  and  obscurity  of  mind  which  had 
been  previously  denominated  "darkness  upon  the  face  of  the 
deep." 

The  ideas  here  suggested  are  admissive  of  some  degree  of 
illustration,  which  may  come  home  to  the  religious  experience 
of  many.  When  a  man  remembers  the  innocence  of  his  child- 
hood with  delight ;  when  he  feels  gratitude  attending  his 
reflections  on  the  anxiety  and  care  which  his  rearing  and 
education  must  have  cost  his  parents,  and  when  he  experiences 
pleasures  arising  in   his  bosom  with  the  recollection  of  those 

*That  waters,  in  the  Word,  are  employed  to  signify  knowledges  will  abun- 
dantly appear  in  subsequent  parts  of  this  work.    Baptism  with  water  signifies 
introduction  into  the  knowledges  of  the  Church. 
5 


34  THK    VVOKI)    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

kno\vl(;dgcs  and  attc^iitioiis  wliic^li  friends  and  others  liave 
bostowod  upon  liini; — when  he  experiences  such  gratifying 
sensations  accompanying  tlie  common  knowledges  of  his  natun;, 
then  it  is  that  the;  Spirit  of  Clod  is  moving  upon  the  iacr.  of  thi; 
waters:  it  is  l^rooding*  over  those  knowledges,  and  ilidicating 
the  presence  of  spiritual  life  therein  by  the  orderly  sensations 
of  (ldi(/ht,  (/r (it Uncle,  and  pleasure  that  are  felt. 

It  is  interesting  to  observe  that  there  is  a  remarkable  analogy 
between  the  process  here  described  as  attending  the  creation  of 
man,  and  that  which,  under  the  Christian  dispensation,  is 
spoken  of  as  belonging  to  his  regeneration.  They  are  both 
treated  of  as  the  result  of  the  divine  influence  and  operation. 
In  the  one  case,  God  is  said  to  move  "upon  the  face  of  the 
waters";  in  the  other  it  is  written,  "  Ye  must  be  born  of  water 
and  the  Spirit. "t  It  is  true  that  the  regeneration  insisted  on 
by  Christianity  implies  the  presence  of  evil,  which  in  the  first 
cHJation  of  man  could  not  have  existed.  Nevertheless,  there  is 
a  great  similarity  in  the;  two  processes,  for  the  end  contemplated 
by  both  is  the  implantation  of  the  Divine  image  in  man.  In 
the  one  case,  it  was  to  be  done  before  his  fall;  in  the  other, 
after  it.  In  this  latter  case  it  may  be  more  difficult  to  accom- 
plish, because  man,  as  a  co-worker  with  God,  has  now  to  contend 
against  his  evils;  and  these  throw  obstacles  in  the  way,  and  so 
retard  his  progress.  With  this  exception,  regeneration,  consid- 
ered as  a  divine  work,  is  very  similar  to  that  which  is  described 
as  his  creation.  The  (!nd  in  both  cases  is  the  same;  so,  also, 
are  the  means,  vi<'wed  in  their  first  principles,  those  being  the 
divine  influences.  The  intermediates  are  somewhat  different. 
Man  is  noiv  rcigcnierated  by  the  Lord  through  the  external  teach- 
ings of  his  Word;  tlien  he  was  regenerated  by  the  Lord  through 

*'I'lic  Hebrew  verb,  moarhcphcth,  reixloicd  viovcd,  also  signifies  the  act  of 
incubation,  of  gently  cherishing,  of  brooding  over  so  as  to  evolve  a  some- 
thing that  may  live.  .  .  .  This  liarnionizcs  very  l)eautifully  witli  the 
I'act  declared  by  tlu;  Lord  when  lie  said,  "How  often  would  I  have  gathered 
you  together,  as  a  hen  gathereth  her  chickens  under  her  wings!"  (Matt, 
xxiii.  '.il).  In  both  in.stanees  there  is  included  the  idea  of  bringing  its  sub- 
ject into  a  condition  of  superior  life  :  in  the  former  case  its  evolution  out  of 
the  nnfallen  capacities  of  man  ;  in  the  latter  the  disentanglement  of  it  from 
the  influences  of  iniquity. 

f  John  iii.  5. 


CREATION    BY    THE    WORD.  35 

the  internal  dictates  of  }iis  wi.sdom.  This  flowed  into  hiin  hy 
an  interior  way,  there  being  nothing  to  oppose  its  entrance; 
and,  therefore,  it  successively  brought  forth  lliose  excellencies 
of  character  wliich  terminated  in  the  development  of  the  Divine 
image.  But  now  divine  wisdom  enters  into  man  ])y  an  external 
way,  because  lunv  tliere  are  evils  to  be  removed,  wliidi  must 
be  seen  and  ackntnvledged  in  the  external  mind,  before  that 
"image"  can  be  restored  which  the  fall  obliterated.  When 
this  is  effected  he  is  regenerated,  being  ''a  new  creature";  for 
regeneration  consists  in  the  implantation  of  new  thoughts, 
affections,  and  intentions,  and  thus  in  the  actual  creation,  in 
man,  of  new  principles  of  sijiritual  life  and  action.  Hence  it 
is  sometimes  called  a  creation,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Psalmist, 
when  he  prayed,  "Create  in  me  a  clean  heart,  O  God;  and 
renew  a  right  spirit  within  me."*  It  is,  therefore,  a  t(;rm 
declaratory  of  the  actual  creation  of  the  orderly  principles  and 
development  of  religious  life.  It  brings  into  existence,  in  the 
state  of  him  who  is  its  subject,  a  new  intellectual  and  moral 
activity,  which  are  not  experienced  and  cannot  be  imagined  by 
the  merely  natural  man,  for  he,  says  the  Apostle,!  "  knoweth 
not  the  things  of  God."  It  is,  then,  the  creation  and  successive 
unfolding  of  states  c«^)nducive  to  this  elevated  condition  of 
humanity  before  the  fall,  which  we  believe  to  be  treated  of  in 
the  first  chajDter  of  Genesis.  X 

The  general  similarity  between  creation  and  regeneration  is 
evident;  therefore,  we  may  sometimes  fairly  appeal  to  the  experi- 
ence of  the  one,  for  an  occasional  illustration  of  tlie  j)henomena 
indicated  in  the  other. 

It  was  observed  that  the  Spirit  of  God  moving  upon  the  face 
of  the  waters  meant  the  divine  influences  operating  ujton  those 
general  knowledges  which  man  had  been  enabled  to  accunuilate 
during  the  early  stages  of  his  primeval  existence.  This  was  the 
preparatory  state  to  that  in  which  the  Lord  said,  ' '  Let  there  be 

*  Psalm  li.  10.  t  1  Cor.  ii.  14. 

X  "That  the  literal  meaning  i.s,  primd  fftde,  one  wholly  adverse  Ut  the 
present  astronomical  and  geolo<^i(^al  views  of  the  universe  is  evident 
enough." — The  Mosaic  Cosmogony.  By  (J.  W.  Goodwin,  M.A.,  p.  251.  The 
whole  of  this  Es.say  may  be  usefully  consulted,  as  showing  the  di.screpancies 
which  exist  between  the  Mosaical  history  and  actual  phenomena. 


36  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

light" — ligbt  in  the  mind,  for  truth  of  a  religious  nature  could 
now  enter  into  it,  and  produce  some  faint  degree  of  mental 
illumination. 

THE    FIRST    DAY. 

It  is  to  be  remarked  that  the  phenomena  of  each  day's  creation 
are  described  as  having  been  spoken  into  existence.  *  The  view 
we  are  taking  of  this  narration  affords  us  a  beautiful  reason  for 
this  circumstance.  All  the  evolutions  of  spiritual  life  are  the 
results  of  the  Lord's  speaking.  It  is  well  known  that  all  the  good 
things  of  genuine  religion  have  been  communicated  to  us  by 
what  God  has  said.  ^Mleresoever  we  behold  any  excellence, 
God  has  first  spoken  of  it  in  his  Word,  and  by  that  speech  it 
has  been  brought  into  existence.  The  external  or  written  Word 
is  now  the  medium  for  these  productions.  It  has  spoken  Chris- 
tendom into  being,  with  all  its  influences.  God  said,  Let 
there  be  Christianity,  and  there  was  Christianity.  But  the 
full  blaze  of  its  intelligence  was  not  suddenly  displayed.  We 
are  not  informed  of  the  time  it  would  require  for  realizing  all  its 
objects.  The  beginning  is  not  to  be  mistaken  for  its  maturity. 
The  twilight  is  displayed  before  the  sun  rises  to  his  meridian. 
God's  Word  has  spoken  of  its  magnificence,  and  His  utterances 
cannot  fail.  This  Word  produces  the  light  which  we  are  com- 
manded to  let  shine.  That  is  the  speech  which  brings  into 
being  the  blade,  the  ear,  the  corn,  and  the  fruit  that  we  are 
directed  to  exhibit.  That  is  the  language  Avhich  originates  the 
sheep  and  the  lambs  which  Peter  was  commanded  to  feed. 
This  being  the  effect  of  God's  Word  now,  we  at  once  see  why, 
in  the  case  before  us,  the  work  of  every  day  is  prefaced  by  the 
sentence,  "  God  said."t     The  things  really  treated  of  were  the 

*  "In  the  beginning  was  the  Word.  All  things  were  made  by  liim  ;  and 
without  him  was  not  any  thing  made  that  was  made." — Jolin  i.  1-3. 

t  It  may  be  useful  to  direct  the  reader's  attention  to  the  frequent  occur- 
rence of  this  manner  of  expression  in  all  the  Divine  communications  men- 
tioned in  the  Scriptures,  and  especially  in  the  prophetical  portions  of  them  : 
and  it  may  not  be  impertinent  to  observe  that  it  has  been  usual  to  infer, 
from  the  circumstance  of  God's  speaking  the  world  into  being,  that  it  was 
created  out  of  nothing.  But  out  of  nothing  nothing  can  be  made  ;  and  the 
above  mode  of  announcing  the  subject  is  rather  a  declaration  that  it  was 
made  from  the  Divine  I.ove  by  the  Divine  Wisdom.  Whatever  might  have 
been  the  modus  operandi,  these  must  have  been  the  origin  of  creation. 


EVENING    AND    MORNING    A    DAY.  37 

actual  results  of  that  sacred  speech.  It  was  a  divine  dictate 
impressing  itself  upon  the  internal  perceptions  of  men,  and 
designed  to  bring  into  successive  existence  the  higher  sentiments 
of  wisdom  and  faith,  with  all  their  charities  and  uses;  which, 
however,  are  described  in  its  own  symbolical  way. 

The  insemination  of  certain  ideas  of  truth  was  among  its  first 
efforts.  What  God  speaks  is  light  to  the  subject  which  receives 
it,  but  more  or  less  brilliant  according  to  the  state  of  man's 
reception.  Without  a  right  knowledge  nothing  truly  useful 
can  be  done,  and  the  attainment  of  that  light  is  among  the  first 
efforts  of  unsullied  love,  because  the  communication  of  love 
without  intelligence  would  be  a  blind  impulse. 

The  Lord,  then,  imparted  light, — this  he  "called  Day,  and 
the  darkness  he  called  Night. ' '  These  definitions  it  is  important 
to  observe.  As  day  and  night  are  terms  expressive  of  opposite 
conditions  in  nature,  so  they  are  significant  of  antagonistic 
states  of  mind.  Whatsoever  proceeds  from  the  Lord  admits  of 
comparison  with  day,  because  it  is  accompanied  by  the  light  of 
truth;  but  everything  arising  out  of  man's  ignorance  is  associ- 
ated with  moral  mists  and  darkness,  and  therefore  it  is  forcibly 
represented  by  the  night.  The  night  here  treated  of  does  not  at 
all  enter  into  the  composition  of  that  which  is  here  called  day, 
as  is  the  case  with  the  astronomical  definition  of  that  period. 
It  is  the  light  which  God  called  day;  this  he  is  said  to  have 
divided  (distinguished,  is  the  more  correct  word)  from  the 
night  to  express  that  eternal  separation  which  must  ever  exist 
between  the  truth  which  comes  from  Him,  and  the  ideas  which 
arise  with  us:  hence  he  has  pronounced  it  good,  and  declared 
' '  the  evening  and  morning ' '  of  that  light  to  be  "  the  first  da}'. ' ' 
By  a  day  is  spiritually  signified  a  state,  during  the  continuance 
of  which  certain  mental  and  moral  perceptions  appear  in  the 
mind,  and  from  which  arise  corresponding  performances  of  duty. 
On  this  account  Jesus  said,  "I  must  work  the  works  of  him 
that  sent  me,  while  it  is  day:  the  night  cometh,  when  no  man 
can  work  "  :  *  the  day  here  alluded  to  is,  plainly,  a  state  favour- 
able for  carrying  out  the  divine  purposes.  Such,  also,  is  tlie 
day  in  the  subject  before  us.  It  is  generally  admitted  that  it 
cannot  there  mean  the  ordinary  idea  derived  from  the  diurnal 

*  John  ix.  4. 


38  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

luotion  of  the  earth,  and  some  other  interpretation  of  it  is 
usually  sought  for.  Many  have  thought  that  it  denoted  a  period 
of  indefinite  extent.  But  that  is  by  no  means  satisfactory. 
God  does  not  employ  words  of  definite  meaning  to  express  to 
men  indefinite  ideas.  A  notion  like  that  could  hardly  be  pro- 
nounced a  revelation.  Its  true  reference  is  to  mental  state  and 
not  to  physical  time:  for  the  duration  of  a  state  is  to  the  experi- 
ence of  the  mind  what  the  continuation  of  a  day  is  to  the 
experience  of  the  body;  and  natural  days  of  clouds  and  sun- 
shine, of  storms  and  serenity,  have  their  correspondence  in  states 
of  mental  vicissitude.  The  six  days'  creation,  then,  are  to  be 
understood  as  so  many  successive  states  of  religious  advance- 
ment, in  the  last  of  which  humanity  became  an  image  of  the 
Divine.  The  insemination  of  the  light  of  truth  was  among  the 
first  contributions  to  this  high  result,  and  it  was  the  evening 
and  the  morning  of  this  light  which  constituted  the  first  day; 
for  by  the  evening  is  denoted  that  dim  aspect  under  which  truth 
is  at  first  perceived,  but  by  the  morning  is  signified  the  more 
clear  and  refreshing  understanding  of  it. 

It  is  remarkable  that  each  of  the  six  days  spoken  of  in  this 
chapter  is  described  to  have  been  constituted  by  the  "evening 
and  the  morning";  night  is  entirely  excluded  from  its  compo- 
sition. But  from  this  more  particular  definition  of  the  term 
day,  we  are  not  to  infer  that  there  is  any  disparity  between  it 
and  that  more  general  assertion  Avhich  declared  it  to  consist  of 
light,  for  both  the  evening  and  the  morning  obviously  include 
this  idea.  The  reason  why  the  evening  and  the  morning  are 
said  to  be  a  day,  and  why,  also,  the  evening  is  put  first  in  the 
order  of  the  expressions,  is,  because  the  light  of  the  divine 
truth  which  is  proper  to  every  state  is,  in  its  beginning,  seen 
only  as  in  the  shade  of  evening,  but  afterwards  it  is  perceived 
more  clear  and  beautiful,  and  thus  as  the  brightness  of  the 
morning,  with  all  its  dewy  freshness  and  fertilit^^  The  order 
of  our  mental  advancement  is  from  obscurity  to  clearness.  We 
do  not  pass  from  the  evening  to  the  night,  and  thence  on  to  the 
morning.  That  is  an  order  which  belongs  to  the  succession  of 
natural  time,  but  not  to  the  progressions  of  spiritual  state;  and, 
therefore,  the  term  night,  proper  to  the  vicissitudes  of  time,  is 
carefully  excluded  from  the  description.     Thus  the  very  order 


THE    FIRMAMENT.  39 

and  peculiarity  of  the  expressions  said  to  constitute  a  day 
afford  a  remarkable  evidence  that  a  description  of  spiritual 
things  is  the  chief  purpose  of  the  narrative.  We  therefore 
pass  on  to 

THE    SECOND    DAY. 

"And  God  said,  Let  there  be  a  firmament  in  the  midst  of 
the  waters,  and  let  it  divide  the  waters  from  the  waters — and  it 
was  so.  And  God  called  the  firmament  Heaven.  And  the 
evening  and  the  morning  were  the  Second  Day. ' ' 

By  a  firmament,  in  a  merely  literal  sense,  is  meant  the  sky 
which  is  above  us;  but  this,  it  is  well  known,  does  not  constitute 
a  partition  for  any  of  the  waters  of  nature.  Moreover,  this 
firmament,  Ijrought  into  existence  on  the  second  day,  is  called 
"Heaven."  Was  this,  then,  another  heaven,  different  from 
that  whicli  was  originally  created,  for  '  *  in  the  beginning  God 
created  the  Heaven'.'?  These  facts  suggest  difficulties;  but 
they  exist-only  in  the  letter:  viewed  in  a  spiritual  sense  they 
entirel}^  disappear. 

By  the  firmament  (more  properly,  expanse)  which  is  now 
brought  into  being,  is  spiritually  meant  the  development  of 
some  of  those  interior  principles  of  thought  which  belong  to  the 
internal  man.  These  constitute  a  mental  expanse  which  exists 
somewhat  above  the  terrestrial  things  of  sense;  and  they  dis- 
criminate between  the  knowledges  which  are  of  God  and  those 
which  are  of  men:  therefore  it  is  said  to  divide  (distinguish) 
the  waters  from  the  waters;  the  waters,  as  before  observed, 
being  significant  of  knowledges. 

This  firmament — these  interior  principles  of  thought — is  now 
called  heaven;  not  because  the  internal  man,  thereby  signified, 
did  not  before  exist,  but  because  it  was  now  first  perceived. 
How  many  things  are  there  belonging  to  our  nature  which 
actually  exist  a  long  time  before  we  become  properly  aware  of 
them!  The  internal  man  exists,  and  we  may  have  this  fact 
declared  to  us  by  infallil)le  authority,  still  we  have  no  right  per- 
ception of  its  truth  until  we  begin  a  course  of  interior  thinking. 
By  this  man  attains  the  evidence  of  its  existence,  and  then 
believes;  hence  the  evening  and  the  morning  of  this  state  are 
the  second  day,  for  man  is  gradually  led  into  this  faitli  from 


40  THE    WORD   AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

things  external  to  things  internal,  from  the  knowledges  of  earth 
to  the  intelligences  of  heaven,  and  thus,  as  it  were,  from  the 
evening  to  the  morning  of  every  state. 

THE   THIRD   DAY. 

On  the  third  day  ' '  the  waters  were  gathered  together  unto 
one  place;  the  dry  land  appeared;  and  the  dry  land  was  called 
Earth,  and  the  gathering  together  of  the  waters,  Seas;  and  the 
earth  brought  forth  grass,  the  herb  yielding  seed,  and  the  fruit 
tree  yielding  fruit." 

That  by  waters  are  really  denoted  knowledges  concerning  re- 
ligious things,  is  certain,  from  a  variety  of  scriptural  considera- 
tions. As,  for  instance,  in  his  conversation  with  the  woman  of 
Samaria,  the  Lord  said,  ' '  Whosoever  drinketh  of  the  water 
that  I  shall  give  him  shall  never  thirst;  but  the  water  that  I 
shall  give  him  shall  lie  in  him  a  well  of  water  springing  up  into 
everlasting  life."*  In  this  passage  it  is  plain  that,  by  water, 
is  denoted  those  knowledges  of  religious  truth  which  rise  up  in 
the  mind  from  the  acknowledgment  of,  and  a  faith  in,  the 
Lord.  Again,  the  Holy  Waters,  seen  by  Ezekiel  to  issue  from 
the  sanctuary,  and  which  rose  first  up  to  his  ankles,  next  to 
his  knees,  then  to  his  loins,  and  afterwards  became  a  river  large 
enough  to  swim  in,f  plainly  denoted  the  successive  increase  and 
deepening  of  those  divine  knowledges  which  proceed  from  the 
sanctuary,  or  true  Church  of  God.  The  Lord  is  said  to  ' '  lay 
the  beams  of  his  chambers  in  the  waters;  X  because  his  cham- 
bers denote  the  interior  principles  of  his  Church,  while  the 
beams  thereof  signify  their  strength:  these  are  said  to  be  laid 
in  the  waters,  because  they  rest  and  have  their  sure  foundation 
only  in  the  genuine  knowledges  of  the  Word,  and  therefore  it 
is  that  the  Word  itself  is  described  as  "a  pure  river  of  water 
of  life."  § 

From  these  considerations,  it  is  evident  that  the  gathering 
together  of  the  waters  unto  one  place  denotes  the  collection  of 
those  moral  and  religious  knowledges  which  had  been  diffu- 
sively impressed  upon  the  mind,  and  storing  of  them  up  in  the 

*  Jo\in  iv.  14.  t  Ezek.  xlvii. 

J  Psa.  civ.  3.  ^  Rev  xxii.  1. 


THE    DRY    LAND.  41 

memory  as  one  place  appropriated  for  their  reception;  but 
then,  in  consequence  of  their  extent  and  depth,  together  with 
the  intranquillity  arising  from  apparent  disagreements,  they  are 
compared  to  the  sea. 

Now  it  was  that  the  dry  land  appeared,  that  denoting  the 
unproductive  nature  of  the  merely  external  man.  The  external 
man,  separate  from  internal  and  spiritual  influences  proceeding 
from  the  Lord,  is  as  a  dry  and  barren  land:  none  of  the  good 
things  of  love  and  truth  can  spring  up  and  grow  therein.  It  is 
important  that  this  characteristic  of  it  should  be  known.  The 
collection  of  religious  knowledges,  to  which  we  have  adverted, 
confers  this  information,  and  thereby  the  ' '  dry  land  appears. ' ' 
This  was  called  earth,  that  being  the  name  conferred  upon  the 
external  man  at  the  beginning;  but  now  it  is  spoken  of  as  land, 
because  in  this  process  of  spiritual  development  it  first  appeared 
somewhat  conspicuous;  neveitheless,  in  order  to  prevent  any 
misapprehension  concerning  the  quality  of  the  external  man,  we 
are  forcibly  reminded  that  it  is  "  earth."  By  original  creation 
it  is  low  and  natural,  nor  will  genuine  knowledge  ever  cause  it 
to  appear  in  any  other  quality  than  that  which  the  name 
' '  earth ' '  suggests. 

From  the  accumulation  of  these  knowledges — for  they  had 
now  become  a  sea — the  duty  was  perceived  of  rendering  this 
earth  productive;  to  "  bring  forth  grass,  the  herb  yielding  seed, 
and  the  fruit  tree  yielding  fruit":  which  spiritually  signifies 
the  production  of  those  orderly  uses  by  which  the  moral  life  is 
to  be  sustained.  The  general  idea  here  indicated  is  frequently 
reproduced  in  the  Word.  Thus  the  Lord  described  himself  to 
be  the  sower,  his  Word  the  seed,  and  the  diversity  of  moral 
results  as  fruits,  according  to  the  quality  of  the  respective  minds 
into  which  the  seed  had  been  cast.*  He  also  described  the  pro- 
gression of  man' s  growth  in  spiritual  things,  as  ' '  the  earth 
bringing  forth  fruit;  first  the  blade,  then  the  ear,  after  that  the 
full  corn  in  the  ear.  "f  There  can  be  no  difference  of  opinion 
as  to  the  general  facts  here  referred  to;  and  how  beautifully  do 
those  three  expressions  coincide  with  what  are  described  as  the 
productions  of  the  state  now  treated  of;  namely,  the  "grass, 
the  herb  yielding  seed,  and  the  fruit  tree  yielding  fruit"!    The 

*Matt.   xiii.  19-2:1  f  Mark  iv.  28. 


42  THE   WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

good  which,  when  knowledge  has  been  implanted,  first  springs 
out  of  "the  earth,"  is  somewhat  low  and  delicate,  and  hence 
it  is  called  "grass"  (more  properly  rendered  tender  herb). 
After  this  succeed  the  performance  of  uses  of  a  more  vigorous 
kind,  and  these,  because  they  are  pregnant  with  a  multiplica- 
tion of  delights,  are  compared  to  ' '  the  herb  yielding  seed. ' ' 
Then  follows  good  of  a  superior  kind,  because  acknowledging  a 
higher  origin,  and  this  is  pronounced  to  be  the  ' '  fruit  tree 
yielding  fruit."*  How  striking  are  these  correspondences! 
from  what  principle  can  it  be  denied  that  such  a  mode  of  ex- 
planation is  the  true  one  ?  They  recognize  and  illustrate  the 
canon  of  ' '  Scripture  interpreting  itself. ' '  The  moral  and 
spiritual  affections  belonging  to  man  at  this  stage  of  his  upward 
progress  are  compared  to  the  growing  and  fruit-bearing  things 
of  the  vegetable  world,  because,  as  yet,  he  -was  somewhat  in- 
sensitive to  the  great  fact  of  their  continued  dependence  upon 
the  Lord:  and  thus  that  higher  Hfe  and  animation  had  not  been 
attained,  which  the  objects  of  the  animal  kingdom  would  more 
properly  represent. 

The  collection  of  religious  knowledges,  planting  them  in  the 
memory  as  the  great  storehouse  of  human  information,  causing 
the  infertility  of  the  merely  external  man  to  appear,  together 
with  the  effort  for  rendering  it,  in  some  measure,  more  fruitful 
in  the  Avorks  of  use,  are  what  constitute  the  third  day  of  the 
creation,  and  this,  like  all  preceding  states,  advanced  from  a 
condition  of  shade  to  light,  wherefore  it  is  written,  that  "the 
evening  and  the  morning  were  the  third  day. ' ' 

THE  FOURTH  DAY. 

The  phenomena  brought  into  existence  on  the  fourth  day  are 
thus  descri])ed:   "  And  God  made  two  great  lights;  the  greater 

*  It  is  interesting  to  observe  that  there  are  only  three  phases  of  vege- 
table prodnction  here  referred  to,  and  that  these,  from  the  circumstance  of 
their  general  utility  to  man,  are  such  as  to  fit  them  for  being  employed  in 
this  synil)olical  manner.  This  must  have  been  the  main  olyect  of  the  state- 
ment, for,  as  the  narrative  does  not  contain  the  slightest  intimation  concern- 
ing that  vast  variety  of  genera  with  which  the  vegetable  kingdom  abounds, 
it  cannot  justly  l)e  regarded  as  having  been  designed  to  express  their  physi- 
cal creation. 


THE    TWO    GREAT    LIGHTS.  43 

light  to  rule  the  day,  and  the  lesser  light  to  rule  the  night:  he 
made  the  stars  also.  And  God  set  them  in  the  firmament  of 
heaven  to  give  light  upon  the  earth,  and  to  rule  over  the  day  and 
over  the  night,  and  to  divide  the  light  from  the  darkness." 
These  words  describe  to  us  what  are  the  great  sources  of  all 
spiritual  and  religious  illumination,  the  order  which  they  estab- 
lish, and  the  uses  they  promote.  Light,  indeed,  had  previously 
prevaileTl :  it  is  stated  to  have  been  brought  into  existence  upon 
the  first  day,  when,  also,  it  is  said  that  God  distinguished  the 
light  from  the  darkness:  yet  now  we  are  told  that  upon  the  fourth 
day  God  made  other,  but  superior  lights,*  whose  office  was  also 
"to  divide  the  light  from  the  darkness."  These,  certainly,  are 
embarrassing  statements,  viewed  merely  in  their  literal  sense. 
Science  has  not  seen  how  light  and  vegetation  could  exist  before 
the  sun.  Ingenuity  has  ventured  to  suggest  a  plan,  but  philos- 
ophy has  not  been  satisfied  with  the  notion,  nor  can  it  ever  be 
so,  because  the  premises  are  wrong.  The  subject  now  treated  of 
is  concerning  the  development  of  the  spiritual  man;  during  this 
process,  light  is  experienced  under  two  distinctive  asj^ects. 
The  light  which  is  seen  by  man  in  the  early  stages  of  his 
regenerating  progress  is  very  different  in  its  quality  from  that 
which  is  experienced  in  his  more  advanced  condition;  in  the 
former  case  it  is  external,  partaking  somewhat  of  the  world;  in 
the  latter- it  is  internal,  deriving  a  quality  from  heaven.  Thus 
the  light  which  is  treated  of  as  existing  during  the  first  three 
days,  represented  that  external  and  scientific  truth  which 
properly  belonged  to  the  early  stages  of  spiritual  development, 
and  by  which  preparation  is  made  for  the  reception  of  those 
more  interior  lights  of  love  and  faith:  therefore  it  is  said  of 
those  lights,  that  they  were  placed  in  the  firmament,  which 
God  called  Heaven;  that  is,  in  the  internal  man. 

By  the  sun  is  represented  the  warming,  enlightening,  and 
fructifying  principle  of  the  Divine  Love;  and  this  is  said  to  rule 

*  Though  the  sun  aud  moon  may  be  implied  in  this  description,  it  is  to  be 
remarked  that  they  are  not  so  expressed.  Astronomers  inform  us  that  some 
of  the  stars  are  at  so  great  a  distance  from  the  earth,  that  their  light  which 
has  reached  us  must,  even  at  its  amazing  velocity,  have  taken  hundreds  of 
tluoisands  of  years.  How  plain  is  it,  then,  that  they  could  not  have  com- 
menced their  existence  on  the  fourth  day,  about  six  thousand  years  ago  ! 


44  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

the  day,  to  inform  us  that  it  should  be  a  governing  principle  in 
all  states  of  the  truly  religious  character  and  conduct.  By  the 
moon  is  denoted  the  cooler  and  less  luminous  principle  of  truth, 
still  trutli  derived  from  love  (in  like  manner  as  the  light  of  the 
moon,  naturally,  is  derived  from  the  sun);  and  this  is  said  to 
rule  the  night,  to  teach  us  the  proper  dominion  of  truth  in  all 
states  of  mental  obscurity  and  darkness.  By  the  stars  are 
signified  those  numerous  and  varied  intelligences  which  distin- 
guish a  state  so  far  advanced  in  religious  life  and  excellence  as 
that  which  is  represented  by  the  fourth  day. 

These  significations  could  be  extensively  proved  from  the 
Scriptures;  but  as  the  most  ordinary  mind  will  perceive  the 
analogies  on  which  they  are  founded,  the  citation  of  a  single 
passage  must  suflice.  The  Lord,  when  foretelling  the  consum- 
mation of  the  first  age  of  Christianity,  said,  "The  sun  shall  be 
darkened,  and  the  moon  shall  not  give  her  light,  and  the  stars 
shall  fall  from  heaven,  and  the  powers  of  the  heavens  shall  be 
shaken."  *  By  the  sun  being  darkened  is  meant  that  heavenly 
love  would  be  eclipsed;  the  moon  not  giving  her  light  denotes 
that  spiritual  truth  would  fail  to  illuminate;  and  by  the  stars 
falling  from  heaven  is  signified  that  religious  intelligence  would 
perish  from  the  internal  man:  and  thus,  that  the  whole 
spiritual  character  of  the  Church  would  experience  a  convulsion, 
signified  by  the  powers  of  the  heavens  lieing  shaken,  f. 

Now,  those  luminaries  were  placed  in  the  firmament  of  heaven 
to  give  light  upon  the  earth;  or,  in  other  words,  spiritual  love, 
truth,  and  intelligence  Avere  now  fixed  in  the  affection  of  the 
internal  man,  for  the  purpose  of  enlightening  his  perception, 
and  giving  life  to  the  moral  fructifications  of  the  external  man. 
One,  it  is  said,  was  to  "rule  over  the  day,"  and  the  otlier 
"  over  the  night,"  to  inform  us  that  love  would  reign  when  the 
states  of  illumination  prevailed,  and  that  truth  would  govern 
during  the  periods  of  obscurity.  They  were  also  "  to  divide  the 
light  from  the  darkness  ";  that  is,  they  were  to  dutinguish  the 
one  from  the  other.     This,  in  the  case  of  the  first  day,  is  said 

*  Matt.  xxiv.  29. 

t  May  not  the  remarkable  condition  of  the  Christian  Chnrcli  at  this  day 
be  considered  as  the  fultiinient  of  the  above  prediction,  so  understood? 


SIGNIFICATION    OF    SUN,    MOON,    AND    STARS.  45 

to  have  been  done  by  God,  but  now  it  was  to  be  effected  by 
those  two  hmiinaries.  Here,  again,  the  literal  sense  suggests  a 
dithculty  whicli  nothing  can  remove  but  a  perception  of  the 
spiritual  fact.  That  fact  is  this.  In  the  former  case,  as  before 
observed,  God  is  said  to  have  distinguished  the  light  from  the 
darkness,  "  to  express  the  eternal  separation  which  must  ever 
exist  between  the  truth  which  comes  from  Him,  and  the  ideas 
which  arise  with  us. ' '  This  distinction  is  not  observed  by  man 
in  his  lower  states;  it  is  the  result  of  a  superior  condition,  when 
love,  faith,  and  diversified  intelligence  confer  their  discriminat- 
ing powers,  and  so  distinguish  that  which  is  of  man  from  that 
which  is  of  God. 

Moreover,  they  were  to  "be  for  signs  and  for  seasons,  and 
for  days  and  years,"  to  signify  those  delightful  variations  of 
state  by  which  man  in  this  superior  condition  was  to  be  dis- 
tinguished. Without  such  changes,  life  would  be  uniform,  and 
the  monotony  would  destroy  its  happiness:  mutations  of  state 
are  required  to  preserve  it  in  activity.  A  continued  sameness 
would  blunt  the  faculties  and  produce  a  sort  of  death  upon  the 
intellectual  powers.  Man,  by  creation,  is  designed  for  the 
ap})reciation  of  beautiful  variety,  and  hence  the  diversified 
existences  of  external  nature  are  mercifully  adapted  to  supply 
him  with  such  enjoyment.  Changes  of  state,  then,  are  to 
result  from  the  presence  of  those  two  luminaries  in  the  mind. 
Such  fluctuations  are  to  be  of  a  twofold  character:  love  was  to 
change  the  state  of  his  delight;  truth  was  to  alter  the  condition 
of  his  knowledge, — and  the  former  was  to  be  for  a  sign  and  a 
season  of  his  spiritual  life;  a  sign  to  indicate  its  particular, 
and  a  season  its  general,  condition :  while  the  latter  was  to  be 
for  the  days  and  the  years  of  his  intellectual  vigour;  the  davs 
denoting  its  particular,  and  the  years  its  general,  aspect. 

Such,  then,  were  the  productions  of  the  fourth  day,  together 
with  their  purposes.  We  recognize  a  spiritual  idea,  even  in 
the  minutest  expression,  when  we  consider  the  narrative  as 
pointing  out  the  process  of  human  development;  but  find  it 
exceedingly  difficult  to  maintain  one  that  is  natural  and  con- 
sistent, when  it  is  viewed  as  indicating  physical  phenomena. 


46  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION, 


THE    FIFTH    DAY. 

The  succeeding  state,  spoken  of  as  the  fifth  day,  is  described 
to  have  consisted  in  causing  the  ' '  waters  to  bring  forth  abun- 
dantly the  moving  creature  that  hath  life,  and  fowl  that  may  fly 
above  the  earth  in  the  open  firmament  of  heaven." 

Here  it  is  important  to  remark  that  it  is  the  luaters  which 
were  commanded  to  bring  forth  the  creature  that  hath  life: 
these  waters,  it  was  shown  above,  denoted  the  knowledges  of 
religious  truth;  and  now  (the  man  of  whom  they  were  predicated 
having  attained  a  superior  elevation  of  character)  they  Avere 
endowed  with  the  higher  capability  of  bringing  into  active 
moving  existence  the  living  principles  of  religious  virtue. 

When  the  sun,  the  moon,  and  stars — love,  faith,  and  intelli- 
gence— are  set  up  in  the  affections  of  the  internal  man,  and 
begin  to  impart  their  light  and  warmth  to  the  external,  then  it 
is  that  all  the  vast  variety  of  religious  principles  begin  to  live. 
Before  those  spiritual  luminaries  came  into  being,  the  man 
regarded  the  knowledges  acquired  and  the  good  he  had  done  as 
having  resulted  from  the  simple  efforts  of  himself,  instead  of 
referring  them  wholly  to  the  Lord.  This  was  among  the 
ignorances  of  his  inferior  condition;  so  long  as  that  remained, 
his  knowledge  did  not  bring  forth  that  Avhich  is  alive;  and, 
therefore,  that  state  is  comj^ared  to  grass,  the  herb  yielding 
seed,  and  the  tree  bearing  fruit,  which,  after  all,  are  but  things 
inanimate.  But  when  the  man  is  enlightened  by  genuine  love 
and  faith,  then  his  knowledges  become  the  medium  for  a  de- 
velopment of  spiritual  life,  and  he  at  once  perceives  that  the 
truth  he  had  known,  and  the  good  he  had  done,  were  operated 
in  him  by  the  Lord.  This  important  knowledge  is,  therefore, 
the  source  through  which  his  thoughts  and  affections  acquire 
real  life  and  animation;  on  which  account  they  are  now  first 
compared  to  living  things. 

It  is  declared  that  "  every  good  gift  and  every  perfect  gift  is 
from  above,  and  cometh  down  from  the  Father  of  lights  " ;  *  and 
also,  that  "  without  Him  we  can  do  nothing  " ;  f  He  being  "  the 
light  of  life.  "I     It  therefore  follows,  that  whatsoever  proceeds 

*  Jas.  i.  17.  t  John  xv.  5.  X  John  viii.  12. 


MOVING    CREATURES,     LIVING    AFFECTIONS.  47 

merely  from  the  selfhood  of  man  can  have  but  little  of  this 
living  principle  within  it;  and,  consequently,  it  may  be  aptly 
signified  by  the  insensible  objects  of  the  vegetable  world ;  but 
when  all  man's  thoughts  and  affections  are  derived  from  the 
Lord,  and  humbly  acknowledged,  then  they  must  needs  contain 
within  them  the  principles  of  moving  and  imperishable  life; 
in  this  case  they  may  be  most  appropriately  represented  to  us 
by  the  objects  which  really  live:  these  are  the  reasons  why  the 
preceding  inferior  states  are  indicated  by  things  of  the  vegetable 
kingdom,  and  the  succeeding  superior  states  by  the  objects  of 
animated  nature. 

By  the  moving  creature  which  the  waters  were  to  bring  forth, 
is  meant  the  living  affections  which  pertain  to  the  scientific  truths 
of  religion ;  *  these  were  commanded  to  be  brought  forth  abun- 
dantly, to  denote  the  multiplicity  of  uses  of  which  they  are 
productive.  But  by  the  moving  fowls  are  signified  the  living 
affections  which  l)elong  to  the  intellectual  perceptions  of  religion; 
and  these  were  to  fly  in  the  open  firmament  of  heaven,  to  denote 
the  range  and  freedom  which  are  proper  to  them  in  the  now 
exalted  condition  of  the  internal  man.  The  Scriptures  furnish 
innumerable  instances  of  animals  being  mentioned  to  signify 
affections;  many  examples  will  be  adduced  as  we  proceed:  we 
shall  here  only  refer  to  one,  in  which  the  Lord  said,  "I  will 
make  a  covenant  for  them  with  the  beasts  of  the  field,  and  with' 
tlie  fowls  of  heaven,  and  with  the  creeping  things  of  the 
ground."  t  It  is  plain  that  by  beasts,  fowls,  and  creeping 
things  are  meant  certain  classes  of  affections,  because  the  Lord 
is  said  to  make  a  covenant  with  them,  which  would  be  alto- 
gether  unintelligible  if   applied   to   such    irrational   creatures. 

*  It  is  to  be  observed  that  fishes  are  the  symbolical  objects  contemplated. 
The  idea  of  their  having  been  the  production  of  the  waters  is  here  employed 
to  represent  the  affections  of  scientific  truth  which  belong  to  the  external 
man.  These  affections  are  among  the  lower  orders  of  religious  things,  and 
hence  they  are  represented  by  fishes  ;  these  belonging  to  the  inferior  class  of 
living  nature.  The  reason  why  fishes  signify  the  affections  of  scientific  truth 
is,  because  they  are  creatures  of  the  sea,  the  sea  denoting  the  collected 
knowledges  of  the  natural  man.  See  p.  40.  The  extinction  of  this  affection 
in  the  Church  is,  in  the  Revelation,  described  as  the  death  of  "  the  third  part 
of  the  creatures  which  were  in  the  sea,  and  had  life." — Eev.  viii.  9. 

t  Hos.  ii.  18. 


48  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

The  Apostle  also  said,  "All  flesh  is  not  the  same  flesh;  but 
there  is  one  kind  of  flesh  of  men,  another  flesh  of  beasts,  another 
of  fishes,  and  another  of  birds."  *  Surely  it  did  not  require  an 
Apostle  or  a  Revelation  to  tell  us  such  common  and  ordinary 
facts  as  these  are  in  their  merely  literal  sense.  We,  therefore, 
infer  that  the  principal  object  of  those  statements  was  to 
announce  the  existence  of  a  variety  of  good  affections  and 
thoughts,  which  he  considered  to  be  symbolized  by  those 
respective  branches  of  animated  nature. 

THE    SIXTH    DAY. 

Such,  then,  were  the  phenomena  of  the  fifth  day,  and  we 
now  arrive  at  the  creations  which  transpired  upon  the  sixth. 
This  was  begun  by  "  God  making  the  beast  of  the  earth  after 
his  kind,  and  ciattle  after  their  kind,  and  everything  that 
creepeth  upon  the  earth  after  his  kind;  and  seeing  that  it  ivas 
good. ' ' 

From  this  description  it  will  be  observed  that  the  order  of 
creation,  or  spiritual  development,  is  now  changed.  In  the 
preceding  case  the  waters  were  commanded  to  bring  forth  the 
moving  creatures  that  had  life:  but  the  mention  of  all  mediate 
instrumentality  is  omitted  in  this  instance,  and  God  is  said  to 
make  them.  These  distinctions  are  for  the  purpose  of  reveal- 
ing to  us  the  different  orders,  through  which  different  classes  of 
human  affections  come  into  being.  Man  first  acts  from  the 
living  affections  of  scientific  truth,  and  so  long  as  he  so  acts,  it 
is  the  waters — the  knowledges,  which  bring  forth  the  moving 
creatures;  but  when  he  afterwards  begins  to  act  from  the  living 
affections  of  spiritual  goodness,  then  it  is  said  that  God  makes 
them,  because  all  that  is  genuinely  good  comes  to  us  directly 
from  Him  who  alone  is  good.  How  bright  and  beautiful  are 
these  distinctions,  and  how  true  and  consistent  are  they  with 
religious  experience!  In  the  former  case  it  was  only  the  fish 
and  the  fowl — the  affection  of  scientific  and  intellectual  things 
— that  began  to  live;  but  in  the  latter  it  is  the  beast,  the  cattle, 
and  creeping  things — the  affections  of  spiritual  good  in  different 
degrees — that  began  to  live.     The  affections  of  the  former  state 

*  1  Cor.  XV.  39. 


THE    CONSTITUENT    OF    MAN.  49 

originated  out  of  the  commands  of  truth,  and  hence  it  is  said 
that  the  waters  brought  them  forth;  but  the  affections  of  the 
latter  state  spring  directly  out  of  the  influences  of  good,  and, 
therefore,  it  is  written  that  "God  made  them." 

Hence  we  learn  that  the  circumstances  narrated  in  the  chapter 
before  us,  preceding  that  which  announces  the  making  of  man, 
are  but  particular  parts  of  that  general  result,  and  descriptive  of 
the  successive  states  through  which  the  human  principles  were 
communicated,  enlightened,  and  made  alive;  and  when  so 
enlightened  and  made  alive,  he  becomes  intelligent  and  wise, 
and  then  a  man  is  made.  Thus  the  statement  concerning  the 
making  of  man  does  not,  in  our  judgment,  relate  to  the  origina- 
tion of  his  physical  structure:  we  look  upon  it  as  the  descrip- 
tion of  man  in  the  possession  of  a  high  degree  of  spiritual  per- 
fection, to  which  a  preceding  series  of  mental  and  moral  devel- 
opments had  contributed. 

The  ideas  of  what  constitute  a  man  will  change  with  the 
aspect  under  which  he  is  contemplated.  If  we  take  a  low  and 
corporeal  view  of  him,  we  shall  be  led  to  think -that  he  is  a  man 
by  virtue  of  his  form.  If  we  look  at  him  through  military 
eyes,  he  will  be  pronounced  to  be  a  man  in  consequence  of  his 
prowess.  The  law  says  that  he  is  a  man  when  he  has  lived  so 
many  years;  and  there  are  many  other  points  from  -which  the 
conventionalities  of  society  have  so  regarded  him.  But  it  is 
not  to  any  such  ideas  as  these  that  God  attaches  the  term  when 
it  is  used  approvingly  in  his  Word.  That  which  is  a  man  in 
the  Divine  estimation  is  intellectual  and  spiritual  excellence. 
Hence  the  Lord,  when  speaking  of  the  destitution  of  heavenly 
love  in  the  Church,  said,  "I  beheld  the  earth,  and,  lo,  there 
was  no  man."*  Again,  it  is  written  that  Jerusalem  would  have 
been  pardoned  of  her  sins  if  "a  man"  could  have  been 
found  therein;!  where  by  a  man  is  plainly  meant  internal 
superiority  of  character.  This  was  induced  by  the  Lord  upon 
those  human  faculties  which  he  has  created  for  the  reception  of 
himself;  and,  in  the  proportion  in  which  man  received  them  he 
had  life  from  the  Lord,  and  so  became  an  image  and  likeness  of 
him:  an  "image"  so  far  as  he  was  in  charity  and  faith,  but  a 
"likeness"  so  far  as  he  was  in  love  and  wisdom.     This  is  the 

*  Jer.  iv.  25.  t  Jer.  v.  1. 

6 


50  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

man  about  whom  the  Lord  has  made  a  revelation :  and  it  is  the 
things  constituent  of  this  manhood  which  required  a  revelation, 
in  order  that  a  knowledge  of  them  may  be  perpetuated  with  our 
race.  ' '  God  said,  Let  us  *  make  man  in  our  image,  after  our 
likeness":  such  was  the  divine  proposition;  but  it  is  to  be 
observed  that  the  image  only  was  now  produced,  f  Those  who 
have  been  accustomed  to  view  the  statements,  of  the  Word  in  some 
general  external  idea  only,  will  not  instantly  recognize  the  par- 
ticular distinction  Avhich  those  two  terms  are  intended  to  convey, 
and  which  indeed  they  must  express,  unless  we  consider  the  Holy 
Spirit  to  have  selected  tautological  and  redundant  words;  which 
idea  needs  only  to  l^e  named  to  be  rejected.  The  nature  of  the 
distinction  is  the  same  as  that  which  exists  between  things 
spiritual  and  things  celestial.  It  is  the  spiritual  man  who  is 
the  image  of  God;  the  celestial  man  is  His  likeness:  but  that 
was  a  development  that  had  yet  to  be  educed,  and  of  which  we 
shall  ])y  and  by  have  occasion  to  speak. 

But  after  the  general  declaration  that  God  made  n:ian  in  his 
own  image,  it  is  more  particularly  said,  ' '  Male  and  female 
created  he  them."  That  this  cannot,  consistently  with  the 
literal  sense,  be  interpreted  to  mean  the  creation  of  the  physical 
sexes  seems  evident;  for,  when  we  carefully  consult  that  sense, 
it  appears,  according  to  the  second  of  Genesis,  that  the  woman 
was  not  created  on  the  sixth  day  at  all;  that  she  did  not  come 
into  being  until  after  Adam  was  placed  in  the  garden,  and 
thus  not  until  after  the  seventh  day  !  The  criticism  which 
would  have  the  description  of  woman's  creation,  as  mentioned 
in  the  second  chapter,  to  be  regarded  as  only  the  detail  of  what 
is  generally  noticed  in  the  first,  does  not  remove  these  literal 
discrepancies.  INIoreover,  such  a  view  of  the  subject  is  founded 
upon  the  erroneous  idea  of  these  two  records  being  fragmentary 
pieces  relating  to  the  same  circumstance;  Avhereas  both  ought  to 

*This  plural  prououu  may  be  interpreted  consistently,  as,  indeerl,  it  ought 
to  be,  with  the  idea  of  one  single  divine  person  in  the  Godhead,  if  we  con- 
sider it  to  refer  to  what  must  have  been  the  fact,  namely,  that  a  plurality  of 
the  divine  attributes  were  specially  exerted  in  the  productions  here  treated 
of.  See  the  Author's  work  on  "  The  Deity  of  Jesus  Christ  asserted,'^ 
pp.  23-27. 

t  See  ver.  27. 


THE    PREROGATIVES    OF    MAN.  51 

be  regarded,  as  we  shall  endeavour  to  show  in  the  progress  of  our 
exposition,  as  the  revelation  of  a  series  of  distinct  and  pro- 
gressive facts. 

By  male  and  female  that  were  now  created,  are  meant  the 
complete  evolution  of  the  two  characteristics  of  the  human 
mind,  namely,  its  intellect  and  its  affection.  These  Avere  de- 
signed to  form  one  mind,  and,  therefore,  it  is  afterwards  said 
of  them  that  they  should  be  one,  which,  indeed,  was  realized 
when  the  celestial  condition  was  developed.  The  characteristic 
of  the  intellect,  from  the  force  and  vigour  of  its  nature,  is  con- 
templated as  male,  and  the  affection,  from  the  delicacy,  grace, 
and  beauty  for  which  it  is  remarkable,  is  spoken  of  as  female; 
hence  they  are  distinguished  as  the  sexes.  These  two  faculties 
of  the  mind  exist,  indeed,  in  each  of  the  sexes;  but  it  is  plain 
that  they  have  been  differently  distributed,  and  it  is  the  dis- 
tinctive order  in  which  they  exist  in  each  that  constitutes  their 
essential  difference.  The  most  conspicuous  feature  in  the 
female  character  is  that  of  will  and  its  affections;  her  intellect 
is  somewhat  interior  and  perceptive.  That  which  is  most  evi- 
dent in  the  male  is  his  understanding  and  intellectual  energy; 
his  will  is  more  interior  and  suljdued.  It  is  those  mental  differ- 
ences in  the  natural  constitution  of  the  sexes  which  fitted  them 
to  denote  those  two  faculties  in  the  human  mind  which  their 
leading  characters  so  much  resemble.  Hence  that  which  has 
been  j)opularly  understood  to  descril^e  the  creation  of  the  sexes 
is,  when  viewed  in  this  light,  found  to  be  significant  of  the 
orderly  development  of  the  human  Avill  and  understanding,  and 
thus  of  the  due  preparation  of  those  faculties  for  the  reception 
of  the  divine  love  and  wisdom,  and  by  which  reception  they 
were  afterwards  to  be  merged  into  "one  flesh," — one  flesh 
denoting  their  intimacy  and  union  in  the  pursuit  of  all  that  is 
good  and  lovely. 

These  faculties  being  developed,  it  is  now  said  that  God  blessed 
them;  the  blessing  consisting,  not  in  the  utterance  of  a  senti- 
ment, but  in  the  ability  to  enjoy  those  excellencies  which  had 
been  communicated.  They  were  also  commanded  to  "be 
fruitful,  and  multiply,  and  replenish  the  earth,  and  subdue  it." 
Fruitfulness  is  applied  to  the  affections,  and  their  prolifications  in 
all  manner  of  good  works  of  love  and  use;  but  multiplication  has 


52  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

reference  to  the  increase  of  the  knowledges  of  truth  and  wisdom: 
hence  the  Apostle,  treating  of  the  effects  of  the  Divine  Word 
upon  the  soul,  says  of  the  Lord,  as  the  implanter  of  that  "seed," 
that  he  will  ^^  multiply  yoxxr  seed  sown,  and  increase  the /rii/<c< 
of  your  righteousness."  *  By  replenishing  the  earth  is  denoted 
the  infilling  of  the  external  man  with  all  the  holy  principles  of 
intelligence  and  virtue;  and  to  subdue  the  earth  means  to  bring 
the  external  man  into  the  order  and  submissiveness  which  an 
enlightened  and  spiritual  love  requires :  hence  was  to  result  his 
"  dominion  over  the  fish  of  the  sea,  and  over  the  fowl  of  the  air, 
and  over  every  living  thing  that  moveth  upon  the  earth ' ' :  that 
is,  in  his  spiritual  character,  as  an  image  of  God,  he  was  to  be 
capable  of  bringing  into  subjection  all  the  inferior  things  of 
science  and  intellect,  represented  by  the  ' '  fish ' '  and  the 
' '  fowl, ' '  together  with  all  the  lower  affections  and  appetites 
belonging  to  his  external  man,  and  denoted  by  ' '  every  living 
thing  that  moveth  upon  the  earth."  These  were  to  be  the  pre- 
rogatives of  the  man  whose  progressive  development  and  eleva- 
tion we  have  been  tracing:  they  were  to  consist  in  the  moral  and 
mental  government  which  the  higher  principles  of  his  superior 
nature  were  to  exercise  over  his  inferior  part. 

Again,  every  herb  and  fruit  is  said  to  have  been  given  to  him, 
and  to  every  beast,  for  meat;  because  the  state  secured  would 
require  to  be  sustained.  By  the  man  is  now  properly  meant,  that 
internal  humanity  which  had  been  developed;  and  by  the  beasts, 
all  the  orderly  affections  belonging  thereto.  Both  of  these  require 
to  be  sustained  with  appropriate  food,  and  this  is  described  to 
have  consisted  in  herbs  and  fruits,  because  they  signify  the 
truths  and  good  by  which  it  is  effected;  the  truths,  or  herbs, 
l)eing  for  the  beasts,  or  spiritual  affections,  and  the  good,  or 
fruits,  being  for  the  man,  as  to  his  internal  human  delights. 

Man  being  made,  and  these  instructions  given,  it  is  then  said 
that  "God  saw  everything  that  he  had  made,  and,  behold,  it 
was  very  good";  a  statement  beautifully  expressing  the  Divine 
approbation  of  that  high  spiritual  state  which  had  been  evolved, 
and  which  was  emphatically  the  work  of  God,  as  is  the  case 
with  all  good  things.  Still  this  state  Was  not  one  of  equal 
brightness  ;  it,  like  all  the  days  which   had  preceded,  had  its 

*  2  Cor.  ix.  10. 


SIX    PROGRESSIVE    STATES.  53 

shade  as  well  as  light,  and  therefore  it  is  said,  "And  the  even- 
ing and  the  morning  were  the  sixth  day."  The  work  of  human 
development,  thus  far  advanced,  was  not  ended  till  the  seventh; 
but  that  is  a  subject  which  belongs  to  the  succeeding  chapter, 
and  to  which  we  shall  next  refer. 

Thus  the  six  successive  days  of  creation,  with  all  the  circum- 
stances mentioned  to  have  transpired  upon  each,  are  representa- 
tive of  the  six  progressive  states  of  human  development,  together 
wdth  all  the  phenomena  that  were  proper  to  the  process;  and, 
consequently,  the  narrative  is  descriptive  of  the  degrees  through 
which  man  passed  out  of  the  merest  rudiments  of  humanity 
into  the  attainment  of  the  Divine  image. 

Such  are  the  subjects  which  we  conceive  to  be  treated  of  in 
the  internal  sense,  which  is  the  only  sense,  of  this  first  portion 
of  the  Book  of  Genesis.  Viewed  as  a  narrative  of  physical 
occurrences,  it  is  inconsistent  with  the  facts  and  discoveries  of 
science,  and  altogether  unintelligible  to  the  fair  and  free  inquiries 
of  reason.  This  is  proved  by  the  whole  history  of  those  inter- 
pretations which  have  taken  that  notion  for  their  basis.  But, 
regarded  as  a  description  of  the  mental  and  spiritual  elevation 
of  humanity,  delivered  in  the  form  of  figurative  history,  it  is 
found  to  be  in  harmony  with  the  best  Christian  experience, 
together  with  the  soundest  requirements  of  reason,  and  in  beau- 
tiful consistency  with  all  the  disclosures  of  true  philosophy 
concerning  man's  origin  and  nature. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  SEVENTH  DAY,  A  CELESTIAL  STATE  OF  MAN.— Gen.  ii.  1. 

"  There  is  one  law  of  criticism,  the  most  important  to  the  thorough  understanding 
of  any  work.  It  is  that  by  which  we  should  be  led,  by  continued  habits  of  mind 
and  action,  to  approximate  to  that  intellectual  and  moral  condition  in  which  the 
work  originated. — The  Bible  has  mind  for  its  subject — that  condition  of  mind 
which  has  heaven  for  its  object, — -and  the  Father  of  mind  for  its  Author." — 
"  Groioth  of  the  Mind,"  by  Samson  Reed. 

A  knowledge  of  things  pertaining  to  the  natural  world  is  to 
be  procured  by  the  natural  powers  of  men.  Supernatural  com- 
munications are  not  required  to  inform  us  of  points  in  science, 
philosophy,  or  history.  Narratives,  literally  expressing  such 
things,  may  be  employed  as  the  vehicle  for  higher  information, 
and  thence  derive  a  sanctity;  the  parties  writing  them  may, 
also,  have  been  sensibly  directed  in  the  selection  of  such  exter- 
nal vehicles;  nevertheless,  they  do  not  properly  come  within 
the  idea  of  having  required  supernatural  discovery. 

A  revelation  is  necessary  to  make  us  acquainted  with  spiritual 
things,  because  they  are  beyond  the  reach  of  the  ordinary  efforts 
of  the  human  mind,  nor  can  such  things  be  expressed  in  natural 
language  in  any  other  way  than  as  types  and  figures;  hence 
what  has  been  said  concerning  the  "creation"  is  but  a  brief 
example  of  that  representative  and  significant  writing  which 
prevails  throughout  every  document  that  delivers  an  actual 
revelation.  It  is  the  spiritual  truths  contained  within  the  let- 
ter of  the  Word  Avhich  properly  constitute  a  revelation  from 
God,  and  the  Scriptures  are  said  to  be  inspired  in  consequence 
of  the  presence  of  such  truths.  Thus  the  Word  itself  is  an 
inspired  writing,  apart  from  the  abnormal  or  inspired  condition 
of  the  individual  by  whose  instrumentality  it  was  produced. 
The  letter  is  only  the  natural  and  symbolical  continent  em- 
ployed for  the  delivery  of  spiritual  truth  to  man. 

We  do  not  suppose  that  in  the  preceding  exposition  we  have 
anticipated  every  objection  that  may  be  raised  against  the  literal 

54 


THE    SEVENTH    DAY.  55 

sense;  or  that  we  have  so  stated  its  spiritual  meaning,  as  to 
remove  every  difficulty  which  may  lay  in  the  way  of  its  imme- 
diate adoption:  to  effect  these  results,  a  more  enlarged  and  par- 
ticular treatment  of  the  subject  would  be  required  than  we  pro- 
posed to  undertake.  What  have  been  set  forth  are  only  a  few  of 
the  general  points  contained  in  the  chapter,  leaving  a  very  large 
amount  of  its  particular  arcana  altogether  unreferred  to.  The 
object  has  been  to  place  the  sul)ject  in  such  a  light  as  to  enable 
the  ordinary  thinker  to  see  at  least  some  general  resemblance 
between  the  literal  description  and  the  spiritual  process, 
through  which  a  successive  development  of  human  principles 
finally  resulted  in  man  becoming  an  image  of  the  Divine. 

This  process  we  have  spoken  of  as  a  development.  It  might 
have  been  called  regeneration,  and  we  should  have  adopted  that 
term  if  we  had  not  contemplated  some  probable  confusion  by 
its  use.  Regeneration,  indeed,  considered  in  an  enlarged  and 
proper  sense,  is  a  development  of  all  the  human  excellencies; 
but  then  it  is  commonly  used  to  express  man's  attainment  of 
those  graces  after  he  had  fallen;  and,  therefore,  in  treating  of 
that  portion  of  the  Scriptures  which  speaks  of  him  before  that 
calamity  had  taken  place,  it  was  felt  that  the  expression,  devel- 
0}iment,  would  exclude  that  idea,  and  so  enable  us  to  employ 
the  word  regeneration  in  its  more  general  acceptation,  when  we 
come  to  consider  the  events  by  which  that  calamity  was  suc- 
ceeded. 

Hitherto  we  have  considered  the  process  by  which  man  was 
successively  raised,  as  it  were,  out  of  a  state  of  non-existence  as 
to  spiritual  life,  into  its  full  possession  and  enjoyment.  The 
SPIRITUAL  life  of  man  is  that  in  which  all  his  affections  and 
thoughts  are  regulated  and  determined  into  act,  by  a  clear  un- 
derstanding of  the  laws  and  rules  of  religious  duty.  In  other 
words,  man  becomes  spiritual  when  he  becomes  good  by  means 
of  truth  teaching  him  what  good  is.  In  this  case  he  becomes  a 
practical  reflector  of  the  divine  wisdom,  and  thence  he  is  called 
the  image  of  God.     This  was  his  condition  upon  the  sixth  day. 

But  a  seventh  day  is  next  treated  of,  in  which  a  higher  state 
is  contemplated.  This  was  a  condition  of  celestial  life,  in 
which  are  rest  and  peace,  in  consequence  of  the  Lord  having 
become  the  primary  object  of  human  love.     He  who  loves  the 


56  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

Lord  aljove  all  things,  and  from  that  love  perceives  and  does  what 
are  good  and  true  in  all  the  descending  varieties  of  duty,  is  a  celes- 
tial MAN.  It  is  a  development  of  the  highest  condition  of  hu- 
manity on  earth.  To  accomplish  this  was  the  great  design  of 
all  God's  providential  works;  and  the  realization  of  it  is  ex- 
pressed as  being  the  attainment  of  the  seventh  day ;  hence  the 
Lord  is  stated  to  have  ended  his  work,  and  rested  thereon;  also, 
to  have  blessed  and  sanctified  it.  That  the  seventh  day  is  ex- 
pressive of  this  exalted  state  of  man,  and  thus  a  realization  of 
the  Divine  purpose  on  earth  respecting  him,  must  be  pretty 
evident  to  the  reflecting.  For  God  cannot  be  said  to  have 
"ended  his  work,"  and  "rested,"  in  any  ordinary  sense  of 
those  terms.  The  perpetuation  of  nature  is  as  much  a  Divine 
work  as  that  of  its  origination;  and  therefore,  supposing  the 
narration  to  refer  to  mundane  things,  the  statement  that  he 
ended  his  work  on  the  seventh  day  does  not  agree  with  the  truth 
that  he  is  continually  wol-king  for  its  preservation.  To  this  it 
may  indeed  be  replied  that  the  statement  ought  to  l:)e  under- 
stood only  as  expressing  the  end  of  the  work  by  which  nature 
was  originated.  But  if  this  were  granted,  the  difficulty  is  not 
removed;  for  after  this,  God  is  described  to  have  caused  a  deep 
sleep  to  fall  upon  Adam,  to  have  taken  a  rib  out  of  his  side  and 
built  it  into  a  woman.  The  expression,  therefore,  will  not  bear 
such  a  construction.  Neither  can  it  be  supposed  that  rest  could 
be  required,  unless  we  venture  to  predicate  fatigue  of  the  Omnij:)- 
otent,  which  will  scarcely  be  attempted. 

It  is  easy,  then,  to  see  that  by  God  ending  his  work,  and 
resting  on  the  seventh  day,  the  idea  is  symbolically  expressed, 
that  the  Divine  purpose  in  human  development  was  so  far  com- 
pleted, and  thus  that  the  Divine  love  was  satisfied;  the  rest  not 
being  a  cessation  of  those  active  providences  by  which  it  had 
been  brought  about,  but  a  holy  satisfaction  with  their  result. 

It  is  admitted  that  the  seventh  day,  in  this  narrative,  cannot 
mean  the  seventh  day  in  the  ordinary  sense  of  that  expression, 
because  what  are  described  as  the  six  preceding  days  are  not 
days  in  the  ordinary  sense;  and,  therefore,  the  seventh  day 
must  be  regarded  as  the  emblem  of  some  exalted  state.  Cruden 
observes  that  this  word  seven  is  used  in  the  Scriptures  as  a 
number  of  perfection,  and  that  in  the  sacred  books  and  religion 


GOD    RESTING.  57 

of  the  Jews  a  great  number  of  events  and  mysterious  circum- 
stances are  set  forth  by  it.*  It  may  be  useful  to  cite  an  instance 
or  two  in  which  it  is  employed  without  any  reference  to  its 
numerical  import.  Thus  Isaiah,  speaking  of  the  future  glory  of 
the  Church,  says,  "  In  that  day  seven  women  shall  take  hold  of 
one  man, ' '  f  where  by  seven  women  is  denoted  an  exalted  state 
of  the  affections,  and  by  their  taking  hold  of  one  man  is  signi- 
fied their  attachment  to,  and  acknowledgment  of,  the  Lord  as 
that  Divine  Being,  whom  the  prophet  beheld  as  ' '  one  man. ' '  | 
Again,  it  is  written,  "She  that  hath  borne  seven  languisheth,"§ 
to  signify  that  the  Church,  in  which  sanctified  affection  had 
been  conspicuous,  was  now  declining.  The  Lamb  which  was 
beheld  in  the  midst  of  the  throne  is  said  to  have  "had  seven 
horns  and  seven  eyes,  which  are  the  seven  Spirits  of  God  ;  "||  to 
denote  the  perfection  of  power  and  wisdom  by  which  the  Lord 
is  distinguished:  and  thus  it  is  evident  that  the  number  seven 
is  used  to  denote  completeness  and  perfection. 

The  seventh  day  was  afterwards  called  the  Sabbath,  which 
word,  in  the  original  tongue,  means  rest:  it  also  includes  the 
idea  of  peace.  The  rest  and  peace  which  God  is  said  to  have 
had  on  the  Sabbath  day,  signify  that  merciful  repose  and 
heavenly  tranquillity  which  are  experienced  on  the  part  of  man, 
when  he  rests  in  the  delights  of  superior  wisdom,  and  enjoys 
the  peace  of  exalted  virtue;  they  are  plainly  the  Divine  rest  and 
peace  within  him,  and  are  predicated  of  God,  to  indicate  that 
their  existence  in  man  is  from  him. 

Almost  every  one  has  some  idea,  more  or  less  distinct,  of  the 
number  seven  denoting  something  that  is  holy.  This  may  have 
originated  from  the  circumstance  of  the  seventh  day  being  the 
Sabbath;  nevertheless,  it  cannot  be  the  holiness  of  the  day;  for 
what  distinction,  in  that  respect,  can  exist  among  the  seven  ? 
Therefore  it  must  be  some  presumed  states  of  holiness  in  man, 
specially  exhibited  on  this  day,  which  are  the  ground  of  the 
idea.  Holiness,  indeed,  belongeth  to  the  Lord  alone,  and, 
therefore.  He  is  the  essential  Sabbath;^  consequently,  man,  so 

*"  Concordance, "  Art.  Seven.  flsa.  iv.  1. 

t  Dan.  X.  5.  Marginal  reading.  ^  Jer.  xv.  9.  ||  Rev.  v.  6. 

f  Mark  ii.  28. 


58  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

far  as  he  is  receptive  of  holiness  from  him,  may  also  be  consid-' 
ered  as  a  Saljbath,  by  virtue  of  that  excellence. 

It  is  on  account  of  this  signification  of  the  seventh  or  Sabbath 
day  that,  under  the  representative  economy,  it  was  commanded 
that  no  work  should  be  done  thereon.  Those  who  attain  the 
celestial  state  are  not,  like  the  spiritual  man,  to  be  engaged  in 
the  labour  which  attends  the  learning  of  spiritual  truths  and 
duty  by  an  external  way,  because,  possessing  the  love  of  God 
above  all  things,  which  is  the  highest  sentiment  of  humanit}', 
they  will  at  once  perceive  what  are  wise  and  good  from  an  internal 
dictate.  Thus  the  law^,  which  is  prohibitory  in  the  letter, 
declares  a  blessing  in  its  spirit:  and  the  prohibition  was  deliv- 
ered in  order  to  provide  a  means  conducive  to  the  blessing. 

Under  the  same  significant  dispensation  there  was  a  law 
declaring  that  the  transgressor  of  the  Sabbath  should  be  put  to 
death.*  This,  indeed,  appears  a  fierce  and  sanguinary  enact- 
ment; but  its  letter  was  never  designed  for  perpetual  obligation. 
It  was  written  for  the  sake  of  representing,  and  so  revealing,  a 
spiritual  truth  which  every  one  may  see  to'  be  rational  in  its 
nature,  and  continually  in  force.  The  Sabbath,  in  the  highest 
sense,  is  the  Lord  himself,  because  He  is  himself  that  essential 
rest  and  peace  which  the  word  expresses:  to  violate  the  Sabbath 
in  this  sense  is  to  reject  the  Lord,  by  sinning  against  him,  and 
thereby  to  incur  the  penalty  of  spiritual  death. 

Hence,  then,  it  is  evident  that  the  seventh  day,  in  the  subject  ^ 
before  us,  is  mentioned  t6  express  the  holiness  of  man  on  his 
attainment  of  the  celestial  state.  Thus  we  learn  that  the  second 
chapter  of  Genesis  is  designed  to  treat  of  man  under  an  aspect 
superior  to  that  in  which  he  is  spoken  of  in  the  first.  It  Avas 
seen  that  God's  proposition  was  to  create  man  in  his  own  image 
and  likeness,  but  it  was  the  image  only  which  was  then  effected: 
the  production  of  the  likeness  was  to  be  a  subsequent  work,  and 
this  is  distinctly  declared  to  have  been  accomplished,  f  It  came 
into  existence  with  man's  sabbatical  state.  He  was  an  "  image  " 
in  his  spiritual  degree  of  life,  because  he  was  good  from  the 
teachings  of  wisdom;  but  he  was  a  "likeness"  in  his  celestial 
degree  of  life,  because  he  was  good  from  the  impulses  of  love. 

The  first  chapter  of  Genesis  treats  of  the  creation  of  the  image, 
*  Exod.  XXXV.  2.  t  Gen.  v.  1. 


HOW    THE    SABBATH    IS    HOLY.  59 

or  spiritual  state;  the  second  describes  the  creation  of  the  Uke- 
ness,  or  celestial  state.  This  at  once  accounts  for  the  circum- 
stance of  there  being  two  descriptions  of  the  creation,  marked 
by  somewhat  different  and  distinctive  features.  Each  treats  of 
its  own  subject;  and,  therefore,  we  may  observe  even  a  differ- 
ence of  terms  applied  to  both  man  and  God.  The  Supreme 
Being,  in  respect  to  the  spiritual  man,  is  called  by  the  single 
name  God,  but  in  reference  to  the  celestial  man  he  is  called  Lord 
God.  Also,  man's  external  nature  in  the  former  case  is  denomi- 
nated earth,  but  in  the  latter  it  is  spoken  of  as  the  ground :  *  and 
this  is  the  man  of  whom  it  is  said,  ' '  The  Lord  God  breathed 
into  his  nostrils  the  breath  of  lives ;  and  he  became  a  living 
soul."  t  The  living  soul  here  spoken  of  does  not  specifically 
refer  to  that  internal  part  of  man  to  which  his  immortality 
belongs;  J  that  had  been  communicated  before,  and  was  obvi- 
ously implied  in  his  possession  of  the  divine  image;  what  is 
here  more  properly  meant  is,  that  external  part  of  him  Avhich 
was  now  to  be  infilled  with  the  living  principles  of  heavenly 
life,  which  are  the  truths  of  faith  in  the  understanding  and  the 
good  of  love  in  the  will.  These  are  the  lives  b}^  which  his  char- 
acter was  now  to  be  distinguished;  they  were  to  belong  to  him, 
and  to  be  among  the  sources  of  his  dignity  and  blessedness. 
They  are  proper  to  a  high  state  of  genuine  religion;  and  Chris- 
tianity contemplates  their  existence,  for  it  is  written  ' '  that  man 
doth  not  live  by  bread  only,  but  by  every  ivord  that  proceedeth 
out  of  the  mouth  of  the  Lord  doth  man  live  " ;  §  here,  by  living, 
is  not  meant  man's  natural  animus,  but  his  religious  life — the 
life  of  love  in  the  will,  denoted  by  the  "  bread,"  and  the  life  of 
wisdom  in  the  understanding,  denoted  by  the  "word  that  pro- 

*  The  reader  is  desired  to  verify  these  remarkable  facts  by  referring  to  the 
first  chapter  throughout  up  to  the  third  verse  of  the  second,  and  thence  to 
the  commencement  of  the  fall. 

t  Gen.  ii.  7.  "Lives,"  plural,  is  the  trne  rendering  of  the  original. 
,  t  It  is  generally  allowed  that  the  import  of  the  original  words  translated 
"living  soul  "  is  not  the  immaterial  spirit  of  man,  but  the  organic  life  of  the 
animal  frame;  for  the  same  words  are  rendered  "creature  that  hath  life, " 
and  "living  creature"  (see  Gen.  i.  20-24).  This  is  the  opinion  of  Grotius, 
Hewlett,  Dr.  Pye  Smith,  and  other  eminent  scholars ;  and  thus  it  very  satis- 
factorily agrees  with  the  spiritual  idea  advanced  above. 

?  Deut.  viii.  3 ;  Matt.  iv.  4. 


60  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

ceedeth  out  of  the  mouth  of  the  Lord."  When  the  soul  lives 
from  these  principles,  the  seventh  day  is  attained,  and  a  celestial 
man  exists.  A  wise  and  amiable  love  is  the  ground  of  his  faith 
and  action.  He  possesses  a  holy  freedom,  and  the  ends  which 
influence  him  have  all  a  regard  to  the  Lord,  his  kingdom,  and 
eternal  life.  What  the  Lord  teaches  him  he  perceives  to  be 
true  and  beautiful,  because  he  has  made  a  close  approximation 
to  that  intellectual  eminence  which  the  Divine  instructor 
proposed. 


CHAPTER  V. 

ADAM   A   RELIGIOUS   COMMUNITY.— EDEN,  WITH   ITS   GARDEN 
AND  EASTERN  SITUATION.— HOW  TO  BE  KEPT. 

"  What  if  earth 
Be  but  the  shadow  of  heaven ;  and  things  therein 
Each  to  other  like,  more  than  on  earth  is  thought  ?  " 

Milton's  "Paradise  Lost,"  Book  V.,  lines  574-76. 

The  points  in  that  most  ancient  history  in  the  world,  to  the 
elucidation  of  which  this  and  the  two  succeeding  chapters  are  to 
be  devoted,  are  thus  described. 

' '  And  the  Lord  God  planted  a  garden  eastward  in  Eden ;  and 
there  he  put  the  man  whom  he  had  formed.  And  out  of  the 
ground  made  the  Lord  God  to  grow  every  tree  that  is  pleasant 
to  the  sight  and  good  for  food;  the  tree  of  life  also  in  the  midst 
of  the  garden,  and  the  tree  of  knowledge  of  good  and  evil.  And 
a  river  went  out  of  Eden  to  water  the  garden;  and  from  thence 
it  was  parted,  and  became  into  four  heads.  The  name  of  the 
first  is  Pison:  that  is  it  which  encompasseth  the  whole  land  of 
Havilah,  where  there  is  gold;  and  the  gold  of  that  land  is  good: 
there  is  bdellium  and  the  onyx  stone.  And  the  name  of  the 
second  river  is  Gihon:  the  same  is  it  which  encompasseth  the 
whole  land  of  Ethiopia.  And  the  name  of  the  third  river  is 
Hiddekel;  that  is  it  which  goeth  toward  the  east  of  Assyria. 
And  the  fourth  river  is  Euphrates." — Genesis  ii.  8-14. 

Here,  to  all  appearances,  we  have  described  the  first  natural 
garden,  and  that  the  result  of  the  divine  planting,  together 
with  some  intimation  of  its  geographical  locality  and  adjacent 
features.  But  if  these  statements  be  enquired  into  Avith  the 
light  and  freedom  belonging  to  a  period  when  it  has  become 
allowable  to  examine  intellectually  the  things  of  faith,  we  shall 
have  the  strongest  evidence  for  believing  them  to  treat  of  the 
religious  states  of  living  men,  and  not  of  the  vegetable  produc- 
tions of  insensible  earth. 

61 


62  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

The  primary  object  of  the  Scriptures  is  to  make  a  revelation 
to  man;  to  show  him  the  things  which  pertain  to  his  inner 
character;  to  disclose  the  philosophy  and  display  the  principles 
of  spiritual  life;  to  point  out  the  nature  of  his  future  existence; 
and  exhibit  to  him  those  causes  which  conduce  to  weal  or  woe 
in  that  other  stage  of  being,  for  which  this  is  but  the  prepara- 
tory world:  and  especially  to  keep  before  his  mind's  eye  and 
inner  life  an  intellectual  faith  in  God,  and  practical  charity 
towards  mankind.  These  are  the  leading  things  of  revelation ; 
things  which  can  be  known  to  us  by  no  other  means  than  a 
revelation.  The  sciences  and  philosophies  of  nature  cannot 
teach  them.  No  acquaintance  with  physical  phenomena,  how- 
ever extensive  or  profound,  can  unfold  to  us  any  information 
upon  truly  spiritual  subjects.  When  they  are  divulged,  natural 
philosophy  may  afford  us  materials  for  their  illustration,  but 
it  cannot  discover  them.  The  utmost  skill  in  the  anatomy  of 
the  body  has  never  enabled  its  professor  either  to  detect  or 
determine  any  fact  about  the  soul.  It  is  of  a  different  sub- 
stance, and  belongs  to  another  world — a  world  which  God  knows, 
and  concerning  which  man  could  liave  known  nothing  if  God 
had  not  consented  to  inform  him.  The  means  which  he  has 
employed  to  make  these  communications  is  the  language  of 
men  so  constructed  as  to  embody  and  convey  the  mind  of  God. 
Nor  is  this  all,  but  even  the  genius  of  the  language  which 
prevailed  with  men  during  that  particular  epoch  when  revelation 
was  first  vouchsafed  to  them,  has  been  bended  into  this  merciful 
service.  Figure  is  the  form  in  which  the  primitive  genius  of 
language  has  displayed  itself.  This  to  us,  at  first  sight,  may 
appear  somewhat  artificial;  but  a  little  reflection  must  show  it 
to  be  genuinely  natural, — so  much  so  that  it  requires  a 
considerable  amount  of  art  to  construct  a  sentence  without 
having  recourse  to  it.  The  language  of  a  primitive  people  must 
needs  have  been  eminently  figurative;*  and,  therefore,  a 
revelation  vouchsafed  during  its  prevalence  would,  obviously, 

*  Dr.  Hugh  Blair  was  also  of  this  opinion.  His  words  are,  "  The  style  of 
all  the  most  early  languages,  among  nations  who  are  in  the  first  and  rude 
periods  of  society,  is  found,  without  exception,  to  be  full  of  figures  ;  hyper- 
bolical and  picturesque  in  a  high  degree." — " Ehetoric  and  Belles- Lettres," 
Sec.  6. 


FIGURATIVE    LANGUAGE    NATURAL.  63 

partake  very  largely  of  such  a  style.  The  mental  genius  and 
modes  of  expression  that  Avere  extant,  would  be  made  to 
subserve  the  purposes  of  embodying  divine  ideas.  If  the 
antediluvian  narratives  be  the  most  ancient  in  the  world,  and 
really  refer  to  the  aborigines  of  our  race,  and  if  it  be  true  that 
the  language  of  figure  is  the  natural  and  spontaneous  utterance 
of  human  thought;  then  it  will  folloAv  that  these  documents 
ought  to  be  so  regarded.  It  is  not  consistent  criticism  to  judge 
of  the  literary  production  of  an  ancient  and  highly  poetic  people, 
by  that  matter-of-fact  standard  of  writing  which  is  required  in 
a  prosaic  and  scientific  age. 

But  supposing  the  occurrences  to  have  been  such  as  they  are 
described;  supposing  that  we  saw  no  difficulties  in  the  way  of 
believing  all  the  narrations  to  be  literally  tfue;  supposing  the 
circumstances  mentioned  harmonized  with  our  knowledge  of 
physics,  and  that  they  were  in  strict  agreement  with  the  per- 
ceptions and  demands  of  reason;  and  supposing  the  history  to 
express  in  the  letter  all  the  ideas  that  were  intended:  of  what 
spiritual  advantage  would  such  knowledge  be  to  man  ?  ^^^ould 
it  raise  him  one  step  upon  the  way  which  leads  to  heaven  ? 
We  grant  that  it  might  satisfy  our  natural  curiosity  to  know 
something  certain  about  the  l^eginning  of  things;  we  admit  that 
our  worldly  information  would  be  extended  by  it;  we  concede 
that,  for  the  learning  and  scientific  condition  of  the  world,  it 
would  be  useful;  but  of  what  real  service  would  such  earthly  in- 
formation be  to  our  spiritual  well-being  ? 

If  we  knew  that  the  world  was  created  out  of  nothing;  if  it 
were  certain  that  the  first  man  was  made  from  red  earth;  *  if  it 
were  physically  demonstrable  that  the  first  woman  originated 
from  his  rib;  if  it  were  credible  that  life  and  knowledge  once 
grew  upon  a  tree;  if  it  were  evident  that  a  serpent  could  talk: 
still,  the  utmost  that  could  be  said  of  such  facts  is,  that  they 
were  extraordinary  events  peculiar  to  the  natural  world  in  its 
beginning:  yet  this  would  not  raise  man's  tli ought  above 
terrestrial  things,    or  furnish  him  with   any  information  con- 

*  Ad;im  wns  so  called,  as  critics  and  commentators  suppose,  from  the  red 
enrih  of  which  it  is  imagined  he  was  formed. — Robertson,  On  the  Pcntaieuch, 
p.  16. 


64  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

cerning  his  spirituality,  his  futurity,  or  duty;  *  and  when  it  is 
seen  that  all  these  things  are  the  antagonists  of  good  reason,  it 
is  evident  that  they  can  have  no  relation  to  man's  inner  con- 
sciousness, his  spiritual  condition,  his  religious  development, 
or  heavenly  hopes.  If  we  confine  our  ideas  to  the  letter,  it  is 
plain  that  Ave  limit  them  to  the  things  of  this  world.  We 
should  endeavour  to  eliminate  the  spiritual  things,  which,  as  a 
revelation,  they  are  intended  to  communicate.  If  we  overlook 
this  duty  we  shall  lose  sight  of  its  practical  character.  The 
Apostle  says,  "The  letter  killeth,  but  the  spirit  giveth  Ufe";t 
which  plainly  means  that  the  literal  sense  is  of  this  world 
only,  and  that  it  is  the  spiritual  sense  which  discloses  spiritual 
life,  and  so  points  to  its  condition  in  the  world  to  come.  More- 
over, the  Lord  has.told  us  that  "his  words  are  spirit  and  life,"  % 
a  sentiment  applicable  to  the  whole  Word,  and  not  merely  to 
the  context  in  which  it  occurs;  and  consequently,  to  the  ante- 
diluvian narrations. 

The  internal  or  spiritual  sense  of  those  ancient  documents  is 
their  proper  sense, — at  least,  we  have  not  succeeded  in  dis- 
covering any  other:  that  sense  agrees  with  the  designs  of 
revelation,  to  disclose  ideas  upon  spiritual  subjects,  and  its 
truths  are  felt  to  be  so,  because  they  reach  our  human  con- 
sciousness— they  echo  to  the  voice  of  intuition,  and  express 
the  sensations  of  experience. 

We  have  stated  that  the  development — the  spiritual  creation 
of  the  human  principles  of  religious  life  and  actions,  treated  of 
under  the  figure  of  a  natural  creation,  was  a  reality  possessed 
and  enjoyed  by  the  man  of  the  most  ancient  times.  §  The 
narrative  teaches  us  not  only  the  order  by  which,  from   being 

*  "Although  the  light  of  nature,  and  the  works  of  creation  and  provi- 
dence, do  so  far  manifest  the  goodness,  wisdom,  and  power  of  God,  as  to 
leave  men  inexcusable  ;  yet  they  are  not  sufficient  to  give  that  knowledge  of 
God  and  of  his  will,  which  is  necessary  unto  salvation." — West7ninsier  Con- 
fession of  Faith,  Art.  1. 

t2  Cor.  iii.  6.  J  John  vi.  63. 

§  "When  you  talk  of  a  man,  I  would  not  have  you  tack  flesh  and  blood 
to  the  notion,  no,  nor  those  limbs  neither  which  are  made  of  them  ;  these 
are  but  tools  for  the  soul  to  work  with,  and  no  more  a  part  of  the  man  than 
an  axe  or  a  plane  is  a  piece  of  a  carpenter."— Co///fr. 


PEOPLE    OF    WHOSE    ORIGIN    THERE    IS    NO    HISTORY.  65 

' '  void  ' '  and  dark,  he  was  filled  with  spiritual  principles  and 
gifted  with  intellectual  light,  but  it  chronicles  a  fact  which 
distinguished  him  as  an  early  inhabitant  of  our  world.  It  is 
historically  true,  understood  in  reference  to  his  internal  state. 
He  was  actually  raised  into  that  spiritual  and  celestial  emi- 
nence so  forcibly  expressed  by  being  in  the  image  and  likeness 
of  God. 

But  in  what  sense  are  we  to  view  this  man  ?  Is  he  to  be  con- 
sidered merely  as  an  individual,  or  to  be  regarded  as  a  com- 
munity ?  We  think  that  the  latter  and  not  the  former  is  the 
true  idea  connected  with  this  subject;  and  we  believe  this  idea 
to  be  clearly  recognized  in  verbal  expressions,  as  well  as  in 
more  general  statements. 

Although  the  history  is  not  to  be  taken  in  its  literal  sense, 
yet  its  language  and  intimations  are  constructed  on  the  idea  of 
extant  society,  and  they  may  fairly  be  referred  to  as  affording 
evidence  upon  this  question,  which  must  be  received  as  im- 
portant by  those  who  insist  upon  the  literal  sense  only.  There 
are  several  circumstances  so  mentioned  as  to  imply  the  ex- 
istence of  society  apart  from  that  of  Adam,  or  his  posterity. 
When,  according  to  the  common  reading  of  these  narratives, 
there  were  only  three  inhal)itants  upon  the  earth,  we  .find  that 
Cain,  after  the  fratricide  he  had  committed,  said,  "  My  punish- 
ment is  greater  than  I  can  bear — and  it  shall  come  to  pass, 
that  every  one  that  findeth  me  shall  slay  me. — A  mark  also  was 
set  upon  him,  lest  any  one  finding  him  should  kill  him."  * 
These  statements  evidently  imply  the  existence  of  society: 
why  should  Cain  fear  every  one  that  found  him,  if  there  had 
been  none  to  find  him  but  his  parents  ?  and  of  what  use  could 
have  been  the  mark  set  upon  him,  if  there  had  been  none  but 
Adam  and  his  wife  to  see  it  and  be  warned  by  it  ?  f     They 

*Gen.  iv.  13-15. 

fThis  difficulty  has  long  been  acknowledged  ;  but  it  is  usually  met  by 
supposing  that  Adam  might  have  had  other  sons  and  daughters,  before  this 
time,  whose  births  are  not  mentioned,  and  from  whom  such  a  population 
might  have  descended. — See  Dodd,  Bishop  Patrick,  Rev.  J.  Heivlett,  &c.  Dr. 
A. C\avke.  supposed  that  Adam,  at  130  years  of  age,  had  130  children  ;  he  next 
supposed  each  of  these  to  have  had  a  child  at  the  age  of  65,  and  that  they 
continued  to  have  one  every  succeeding  year,  which  would,  in  the  130  years, 
amount  to  1,219  persons,  whom  he  supposed  to  have  excited  Cain's  apprehen- 
7 


66  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

must  have  known  him  without  such  sign.  These  circumstances 
show  not  only  that  society  then  existed,  but  also  that  it  was 
influenced  by  a  moral  sentiment  which  could  reject  and  con- 
demn a  felon's  crime. 

But  there  is  another  fact  equally  strong,  bearing  upon  this 
point.  Whfen  Cain  went  into  the  Land  of  Nod,  he  is  said  to 
have  had  a  wife  and  built  a  city,  which  he  named  after  his  first- 
born son,  Enoch.*  If  there  had  not  been  society,  where  could 
he  have  obtained  his  wife,  or  procured  the  workmen  necessary 
for  such  erections?  Moreover,  of  what  use  could  have  been 
such  a  city,  if  there  had  been  no  society  to  inhabit  it?  From 
these  facts,  adverted  to  before,  f  it  is  fairly  to  be  inferred  that  a 
people  were  then  in  existence,  for  Avhom  no  relationship  can  be 
traced  to  Adam,  and  of  whose  origiivwe  have  no  history.  Tlie 
employment  of  Abel  as  a  keeper  of  sheep  is,  also,  favourable  to 
the  same  conclusion;  for  what  else  but  the  existence  of  society 
could  have  originated  such  an  occupation  ? 

Now,  if  there  were  such  a  people, — and  of  this  Ave  tliink 
tliere  can  be  no  well-founded  doubt, — why  may  not  Adam  indi- 
cnte  the  existence  of  a  community  that  had  been  gradually 
separated  from  the  general  mass,  and  had  induced  upon  them 
those  excellencies  of  character  to  which  we  have  adverted  ? 
That  which  is  apparently  predical)le  of  an  individual  may,  with 
equal  propriety,  be  said  of  a  numljer  of  persons;  and,  therefore, 
the  narratives  relating  to  Adam,  instead  of  being  the  personal 
history  of  one  man,  may  be  the  spiritual  history  of  a  highly 
cultivated  people,  with  whom  a  Church  existed;  and,  because 
it  is  the  oldest  of  which  we  have  any  record,  may  be  called  the 
most  ancient  Church.  There  is  surely  nothing  irrational  in  this 
inference.  But  is  there  any  more  direct  proof  of  such  an  idea  ? 
We  think  there  is,  and  that  it  is  afforded  by  the  very  name. 

sion,  and  founded  the  city,  which  he  has  called  the  Village  of  Enoch. — Com- 
mentary on  Gen.  iv.  14.  We  should  like  to  have  been  favoured  with  data  for 
these  suppositions  of  this  pious  and  e.xcellent  man  ;  they  should  be  contained 
in  the  history,  and  we  ask  the  reader  carefully  to  examine  it,  and  see  if  he 
can  find  them  :  we  have  made  the  etfort,  but  have  failed.  Had  we  suc- 
ceeded, it  would  not  at  all  have  affected  the  general  view  we  are  attempt- 
ing t«  unfold. 

*  Gen.  iv.  17.  t  Page  17. 


THE    TERM    ADAM.  67 

When  the  Lord  said,  "Let  us  make  man,"  the  proposition 
could  not  refer  to  the  individual,  but  to  the  race.  Man  is  put 
for  mankind,  and  so  it  is  to  be  taken  as  expressing  that  wider 
sense:  this,  indeed,  is  evident,  for  it  is  immediately  added, 
"  And  let  them  have  dominion."  *  But  the  original  word,  trans- 
lated man,  is  Adam,  and  this  is  distinctly  asserted  to  have  a 
collective  signification,  for  it  is  written  that  the  Lord  ' '  called 
their  name  Adam  in  the  day  when  they  were  created  ";  f  male 
and  female  are  here,  indeed,  specifically  meant;  but  there  is  an 
abundance  of  other  instances  in  the  Scriptures  where  the  term 
is  employed  in  the  sense  of  mankind,  or  the  human  race  in 
general.  That  this  is  its  true  import  seems  evident  from  the 
circumstance  of  its  never  being  found  in  a  plural  form,  though 
it  is  acknowledged  that  there  is  no  grammatical  difficulty  in  the 
way  of  its  being  declined  by  the  dual  and  plural  terminations 
and  the  pronominal  suffixes.  %  Now,  the  term  Adam  occurs  in 
the  second  and  third  chapters  of  Genesis  no  less  tlian  nineteen 
times,  and  in  every  case  it  is  put  with  the  definite  article:  as, 
then,  it  is  not  the  actual  appellation  of  an  individual,  l)ut  a 
nominal  expressive  of  kind,  it  will  follow  that  the  terms,  the 
Adam,  or  the  man,  must  describe  the  people, — the  community. — 
the  society, — the  Church,  or  whatever  word  else  may  bethought 
more  fitting  to  signify  the  idea  of  a  huTuan  association,  possess- 
ing the  solid  acquirements  of  a  genuinely  spiritual  religion. 

It  may  be  supposed  that  Adam's  individuality  is  asserted  by 
the  Apostle  where  he  says,  ' '  As  in  Adam  all  die,  even  so  in 
Christ  shall  all  be  made  alive."  §  This  statement  is  both  ellip- 
tical and  symbolical.  It  is  evident,  however,  that  by  the  dying 
of  Adam  is  meant  the  sin  which  was  connnitted.  But  as  this 
can  be  perpetrated  by  a  community,  and  be  spoken  of  under  a 
collective  name,  it  does  not  interpose  any  real  difficulty  in  the 
way  of  the  conclusion  at  which  we  have  arrived.  The  fall  of 
the  Adamic  Church  caused  sin;  the  establishment  of  the  Chris- 
tian Church  is  to  promote  deliverance.  The  Apostle  says, 
"The  first  man  Adam  was   made  a  living  soul."  ||     In  this 

*  Gen.  i.  26.  t  Gen.  v.  2. 

t  Kitto's  "Cyclopjedia,"  Art.  Adam.  §  1  Cor.  xv.  22. 

II  1  Cor.  XV.  45. 


68  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

there  is  nothing  inconsistent  with  our  view.  "The  first  man 
Adam  "  is  a  phrase  as  applicable  to  the  first  community  digni- 
fied liy  religious  manhood,  as  to  an  individual:  and  "the 
living  soul ' '  of  which  he  speaks  was  the  holy  genius  by  which 
they  were  distinguished.  This  is  plain  from  what  has  already 
been  said  of  the  original  passage  to  which  the  Apostle  here 
refers. 

The  successive  developments  of  character  described  of  the 
Adam,  were  the  progressive  advancements  of  the  community  so 
denominated.  They  consisted  of  spiritual  and  celestial  excel- 
lencies, which  were  actually  enjoyed,  not  by  an  individual 
merely,  but  by  a  whole  people,  who  lived  in  some  exceedingly 
remote  period  of  the  past,  and  who,  from  the  superiority  of 
their  character,  constituted  what  we  prefer  to  call  a  Church, 
and,  consequently,  it  is  the  most  ancient,  because  it  is  the 
earliest  of  which  we  have  any  revealed  or  authentic  records. 

Understanding,  then,  that  by  Adam  is  meant  a  highly  culti- 
vated and  innocent  community,  we  next  come  to  inquire  con- 
cerning the  ' '  garden  eastward  in  Eden, ' '  where  the  Lord  was 
pleased  to  put  them. 

It  is  evident,  if  Adam  were  a  people,  among  whom  a  dispen- 
sation of  divine  blessings  was  received  and  enjoyed,  that  they 
must  have  occupied  some,  position  in  the  world's  geography. 
But  it  does  not  follow  that  God  has  made  the  knowledge  of  that 
place  a  subject  of  revelation.  Nor  is  any  information  concern- 
ing it  derivable  therefrom.  There  have  been  a  great  variety  of 
positions  claimed  for  it;  these,  however,  are  now  reduced  to 
nine  theories,*  not  one  of  which  answers  to  all  the  conditions 
which  the  problem  demands.  Travellers  have  sought  for  it  with 
much  industry  and  diligence,  but  no  locality  has  been  discov- 
ered which  responds  geographically  to  the  antediluvian  descrip- 
tions. It  may  be  said  to  have  had  some  of  its  original  features 
so  disturbed  by  the  flood  as  to  alter  its  identity.  This  is  plausi- 
ble, supposing  the  narrative  to  have  been  written  with  a  view  to 
geographical  definition  and  the  flood  to  have  been  really  an 
inundation  of  water.  These,  however,  are  points  which  need 
not  detain  us  now.    'We  think  that  there  is  good  reason  for  be- 

*  Rosenmlillei's  "  Biblical  Geography  of  Central  Asia,"  translated  by  the 
Rev.  N.  Morreu,  pp.  91-98,  Edinburgh,  1836. 


THE    USE    OF    KNOWING    WHERE    EDEN    IS.  69 

lieving  it  to  have  been  situated  in  some  part  of  Southern  Asia, 
but  the  precise  locahty  is  not  so  easily  determined.  It  might 
have  been  in  Palestine,  as  some  of  the  best  writers  upon  this 
subject  have  been  led  to  believe. 

If,  however,  we  were  sure  of  the  precise  spot,  what  would  be 
its  use,  beyond  the  circumstance  of  adding  another  fact  to  our 
geographical  knowledge  ?  If  we  were  influenced  in  our  reflec- 
tions concerning  it  by  the  mere  letter  of  the  Word,  it  might  he 
turned  to  some  account.  We  might  say.  In  this  spot  Adam 
was  placed  before  he  was  a  week  old,  and,  without  the  least 
experience,  commanded  to  dress  and  keep  the  garden.  It  was 
here  that  the  tree  of  life  grew,  and,  hard  by,  flourished  the 
tree  of  knowledge  of  good  and  evil.  It  was  here  that  the  first 
progenitor  of  our  race  lived  but  one  day  in  the  enjoyment  of  his 
felicity,  in  that  he  sinned,  and  was  expelled  the  next.  This 
was  the  place  where  the  serpent,  of  whose  existence  and  mali- 
cious capabilities  man  had  not  been  informed,  reasoned,  and 
seduced  the  first  pair.  It  was  here  that  the  Lord  God  walked, 
in  the  cool  of  the  day,  and  called  for  x\dam.  It  was  here  that 
the  cherubim  were  placed,  and  the  flaming  sword  which  turned 
every  way.  Such,  we  say,  might  be  the  train  of  our  reflections 
if  we  knew  the  geographical  Eden,  and  were  influenced  in  our 
meditations  by  nothing  more  than  the  mere  letter  of  a  figurative 
narrative. 

But  if  we  were  under  the  persuasion  of  those  popular  theologi- 
cal speculations  which  have  been  educed  from  these  remarkable 
narrations,  we  might  still  farther  say, — Here  it  was  where  Adam, 
our  federal  head,  transgressed  the  law,  and  induced  the  penalty 
of  guilt  upon  unborn  myriads  of  his  race.  This  was  the  scene 
of  that  occurrence  which  aroused  the  indignation  of  the  Al- 
mighty, and  caused  him  to  pronounce  a  curse  upon  the  whole 
family  of  man.  Here  was  the  locality  of  that  event  which  led 
God  the  Son  to  take  upon  himself  the  penalty  of  transgressors, 
and,  in  after  times,  to  suffer  as  the  victim  substituted  for  their 
sin.  It  was  here  that  the  circumstance  transpired  by  which 
God  the  Father  was  led  to  accept  the  sufferings  of  his  innocent 
Son,  in  lieu  of  the  punishment  of  guilty  man,  and  Avhich,  by 
the  persuasions  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  they  are  to  believe  is  justice. 
This,  we  say,  might  Ijc  the  tenor  of  our  remarks,  if  we  actually 


70  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

knew  the  Eden  of  tlie  world,  and  were  influenced  in  our  reflec- 
tions concerning  it  l:)y  the  mistaken  theology  of  our  day. 

Tlie  place  of  the  natural  Eden  is  an  undiscoverable  spot,  and, 
therefore,  any  advantages  which  might  accrue  from  the  above 
train  of  thoughts  must  come,  if  they  come  at  all,  independently 
of  such  information.  To  know  it  as  a  portion  of  the  geography  of 
the  earth  would  not  convey  to  us  any  knowledge  of  the  principles 
of  heaven.  We  could  there  see  Ijut  little  more  of  the  finger  of 
God,  or  the  footsteps  of  the  Almighty,  than  we  may  behold  in 
the  broad  lands,  the  fertile  fields,  and  cultivated  gardens  of  our 
own  country.  We  need  not  go  to  Asia  in  search  of  natural 
evidences  of  the  wisdom  and  benevolence  of  our  Creator:  they 
are  abundant  in  Europe,  and  we  may  discover  them  at  our  own 
door,  if  we  be  so  disposed.  It  is  the  state  of  our  souls  which 
the  Scriptures  contemplate;  it  is  that  of  which  they  treat;  and 
the  places  of  our  bodies  are  sometimes  employed  to  represent 
their  condition.  Such  is  the  case  with  Eden  and  its  garden  on 
the  East.  Though  we  do  not  know  their  "local  habitation," 
we  are  acquainted  with  the  signification  of  their  "names." 
We  feel  assured  that  the  chief  object  of  their  being  mentioned 
in  the  Scriptures,  is  to  express  that  pleasurable  condition  of 
love  and  light  which  was  enjoyed  by  the  people  of  the  most 
ancient  Church,  whose  name  was  Adam. 

It  was  when  man  had  attained  the  seventh  day — that  state  of 
holiness  of  which  the  Sabbath  Avas  significant — that  ' '  the  Lord 
God  planted  a  garden  eastward  in  Eden."  It  is  commonly 
supposed  that  the  Lord  did  no  work  u})on  tiie  seventh  day;  but 
this  is  not  declared:  it  is  said  that  he  ended  his  work  thereon, 
which  plainly  means  that  some  was  done.  The  work  of  the 
Lord  consists  of  the  influence  of  his  grace  to  make  man  wise 
and  good.  The  state  of  holiness  represented  by  the  seventh,  or 
Sabbath  day,  was  of  a  celestial  quality,  and  thus  somewhat 
different  from  that  which  was  signified  by  the  six  preceding 
days.  Those  days  denoted  states  of  spiritual  labour,  in  which 
it  was  first  requisite  to  acknowledge  the  movings  of  the  Divine 
care;  then  procure  the  light  necessary  to  separate  man  from 
darkness;  next  educe  the  fruit-bearing  principles  of  morality, 
afterwards  admit  the  illumination  of  love  and  faith,  then  bring 
forth  the  living  affections  of  religious  intelligence,  and  the  sixth 


EDEN  A  STATE  OF  HEAVENLY  LOVE.  71 

day  he  became  a  spiritual  man — an  image  of  God.  It  was  now 
that  the  "  heavens  and  the  earth  were  iinished";  that  is,  the 
affections  pro2:)er  to  the  internal  and  external  of  the  spiritual  man 
were  completed.  Yet  it  was  not  until  the  seventh  day  that  God 
ended  his  work.  That  was  the  day  which  God  is  said  to  have 
sanctified,  because  it  was  significant  of  the  celestial  man,  who 
performs  all  the  duties  of  religion  from  a  prin(dple  of  love;  and 
love  never  feels  duty  to  V^e  a  labour. 

The  distinction  of  these  two  states,  and  the  circumstance  of 
the  former  being  treated  of  in  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis,  and 
the  latter  in  the  second,  are  spoken  of  above. 

When  Adam,  the  name  which  God  employed  to  denote  the 
most  ancient  people,  reached  to  a  celestial  state, — when  they 
became  principled  in  love  to  God  as  the  ruling  delight  of  all 
their  affections  and  thoughts, — they  were  obviously  in  the 
possession  of  a  felicity  arising  from  the  tranciuillit}^  of  purity 
and  peace.  This  state  is  one  of  surpassing  beauty.  It  is  not 
merely  that  cessation  from  labour  which  occasionally  atte»ds  the 
process  of  intellectual  development,  and  Avhich  labour  may 
afterwards  have  to  be  resumed;  but  it  is  a  rest  arising  from 
having  attained  the  summit  of  human  excellence,  and  which 
nothing  can  produce  but  the  interior  life  of  loveliness  and 
wisdom. 

Now,  it  is  the  possession  and  enjoyment  of  this  superior  state 
of  heavenly  love   which  are  denoted  by   Eden.*     Hence  the 

*  Dr.  Adam  Clarke  observes  that  "it  would  astonish  an  ordinary  reader, 
who  should  be  obliged  to  consult  different  commentators  and  critics  on  the 
situation  of  the  terrestrial  Paradise^  to  see  the  vast  variety  of  opinions  by  which 
they  are  divided.  Some  place  it  in  the  third  heaven,  others  in  the  fourth  ; 
some  within  the  orbit  of  the  moon,  others  in  the  moon  itself ;  some  in  the 
middle  region  of  the  air,  or  beyond  the  earth's  attraction  ;  some  on  the  earth, 
others  under  the  earth,  and  others  within  the  earth  ;  some  have  found  it  at 
the  north  pole,  others  at  the  south,  some  in  Tartary,  some  in  Cliina,  some  iu 
the  island  of  Ceylon  ;  some  in  America,  others  iu  Africa,  under  the  equator  ; 
some  in  Mesopotamia,  others  in  Syria,  Persia,  Arabia,  Babylon,  Assyria,  and 
in  Palestine  ;  some  have  condescended  to  place  it  in  Europe,  and  others  have 
contended  that  it  either  exists  not,  or  is  merely  of  a  spiritual  nature,  and 
that  the  whole  account  is  to  be  spiritually  understood." — Com.,  Gen.  ii.  10. 

The  Doctor  certainly  believed  that  there  was  such  a  place,  but  he  was  not 
very  certain  about  its  locality.  Does  not  all  this  show  the  necessity  of 
seeliing  for  it  only  in  the  state  of  a  wise  and  happy  people? 


72  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

word,  as  a  Hebrew  expression,  denotes  what  is  pleasant  and 
delightful:  it  also  signifies  tenderness,  loveliness,  and  beauty. 
A  pure  and  elevated  love  is  always  productive  of  high  and  sanc- 
tified delights,  and  it  is  God  alone  Avho  can  place  man  in 
the  full  enjoyment  of  them.  When  man  loves  God  above  all 
things,  and  lives  in  charity  with  all  men,  from  the  influence  of 
His  love,  he  resides  in  Eden,  for  it  is  then  that  he  dwells  amidst 
delights  and  pleasantness,  loveliness  and  beauty.  This  we 
understand  to  have  been  the  Eden  of  which  the  Scriptures 
speak,  and  into  which  the  men  of  the  most  ancient  Church  were 
introduced.  This  is  the  Eden  Avhich  we  believe  the  Lord  is 
desirous  we  should  again  know,  and  to  the  discovery  of  which 
he  is  wishful  to  direct  our  solicitude  and  attention. 

But  in  this  Eden  there  was  a  garden.  These,  however,  are 
two  different  things.  Love  is  not  a  solitary  principle:  it  is 
always  attended  by  its  corresponding  intelligence,  and  this  is 
represented  by  the  garden,  which  is  said  to  have  been  planted 
eastward  in  Eden.  "We  grant,  indeed,  that  by  God  planting  a 
garden  may  be  meant  his  giving  fertility,  and  causing  growth, 
in  some  particular  situation:  and  we  admit  that  it  is  highly 
probable  a  su^Derior  people  would  be  placed  in  some  position 
favourable  to  vegetable  luxuriance  and  beauty,  because  we  think 
it  is  a  law  of  mind,  to  express  itself,  not  only  in  significant 
words,  but  to  indicate  itself  by  representative  circumstances: 
nevertheless,  we  conceive  that  the  true  object  of  a  garden  being 
here  mentioned,  was  to  denote  the  existence  of  a  cultivated 
intelligence;  and  this  is  said  to  have  been  in  Eden,  because  its 
ground  was  in  a  purified  love. 

Surely  every  one  may  see  that  a  beautiful  garden  is  the 
appropriate  symbol  of  an  elegant  mind:*  what  else  but  such  a 
mind  can  in  reality  be  the  garden  of  God  ?  Is  not  such  a  mind 
of  his  planting  ?  Is  not  the  fruit  of  such  a  mind  of  his  culture  ? 
And  is  not  the  felicity  arising  from  the  possession  of  such  a 

^Origen  asks,  "  Who  is  so  weak  as  to  think  that  God  planted  a  garden, 
like  a  husbandman,  and  in  it  a  real  tree  of  life,  to  be  tasted  by  corporeal 
teeth  (tongue);  or  that  the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil  was  to  be  acquired 
by  eating  the  fruit  of  another  tree?  And  as  to  God's  walking  in  the  garden, 
and  Adam's  hiding  himself  from  him  among  the  trees,  no  man  can  doubt 
that  these  things  are  to  be  taken  fignrativelv  and  not  liteiallv." 


GARDEN    OF    EDEN    ILLUSTRATED.  73 

mind  among  his  good  and  precious  gifts?  We  instantly  per- 
ceive the  truth  of  this:  it  comes  to  us  at  once:  the  reason  is, 
because,  when  the  mind  is  enlightened  by  the  suggestion,  it 
passes,  as  it  were  suddenly  and  spontaneously,  from  the 
physical  to  the  mental  idea. 

This  general  resemblance  may  be  confirmed  by  more  par- 
ticular analogies.  Thus,  as  the  good  and  beautiful  things  of  a 
garden  grow  to  their  perfection,  only  as  they  are  set  and  taken 
care  of  by  human  industry  and  skill;  so  the  true  and  useful 
things  of  the  mind  come  forth  in  their  completeness,  only  as 
they  are  planted  and  preserved  by  the  wisdom  and  goodness  of 
God.  In  a  garden  there  is  nothing  cultivated  but  what  is  useful 
and  delightful  for  the  rational  man;  so  in  the  minds  of  the 
intelligent,  nothing  is  permitted  to  grow  but  what  is  requisite  to 
promote  some  Christian  grace. 

The  Lord  Jesus  Christ  most  certainly  viewed  the  mind  under 
this  aspect,  when  he  taught  his  beautiful  paral)le  of  the  sower. 
The  "seed,"  said  he,  "is  the  Word  of  God";  and  "he  that 
receiveth  the  seed  into  good  ground  is  he  that  heareth  the 
^^"ord,  and  understandeth  it;  which  also  beareth  fruit,  and 
bringeth  forth,  some  a  hundredfold,  some  sixty,  some  thirty."* 
Ever}''  one  must  see  that  this  description  of  the  mind,  as  arising 
from  the  reception  and  understanding  of  the  Word,  is  founded 
in  its  resemblance  to  a  garden.  Moreover,  the  Scriptures  on 
several  occasions  compare  the  Church  to  a  garden.  Thus,  of  the 
righteous  it  is  written,  that  his  soul  should  be  as  a  watered 
garden ;  f  and  of  the  captive  Israelites  it  was  predicted  that 
they  should  "plant  gardens,  and  eat  the  fruit  of  them,"  J 
which  plainly  means  that  the  Church  in  bondage,  which  they 
then  represented,  would  ultimately  become  intelligent  and  enjoy 
its  advantages. 

It  is  because  the  garden  of  Eden  signifies  the  intelligence  of 
love,  as  possessed  by  the  Church  of  those  ancient  times,  that  it 
is  written,  "The  Lord  will  comfort  Zion,  and  he  will  make  her 
wilderness  like  Eden,  and  her  desert  like  the  garden  of  the 
Lord."  §     Here,  by  Zion  is  meant  the  Church;  the  wilderness 

*Matt.  xiii.  23.  t  Isa.  hiii.  11. 

J  Jer.  xxix.  5.  |  Isa.  li.  3. 


74  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

and  desert  denote  its  deficiencies  in  truth  and  faith,  but  which, 
nevertheless,  will  become  like  Eden,  when  it  is  influenced  by 
love;  and  like  the  garden  of  the  Lord  when  distinguished  by 
intelligence.  They  are  said  to  be  like  the  others,  because  they 
will,  in  some  measure,  be  the  reproduction  of  their  excellence. 
But  the  prophet  distinctly  refers  the  wisdom  and  knowledge  of 
the  Church  to  the  circumstance  of  having  been  in  Eden,  the 
garden  of  God.  His  words  are,  ' '  W'lih.  thy  wisdom  and  thine 
understanding  thou  hast  gotten  thee  riches; — thou  hast  been  in 
Eden,  the  garden  of  God."*  Upon  this  point,  then,  we  need 
not  farther  dwell:  we  plainly  see  that  the  garden  is  employed  as 
a  beautiful  symbol  of  that  truth-bearing  intelligence,  which  is 
the  proper  inheritance  of  the  celestial  man. 

But  this  garden  is  said  to  have  been  eastward  of  Eden,  to 
denote  that  the  intelligence  of  the  Adamic  Church  derived  its 
illumination  and  warmth  wholly  from  the  Lord.  For  as  the 
sun  of  nature  is  always  ascending  in  the  east  as  the  earth  is 
perpetually  rotating  upon  its  axis  towards  him;  so  the  Lord,  as 
the  Sun  of  righteousness,  is  represented  by  the  east  eternally 
rising  upon  human  minds,  as  men  turn  themselves  to  Him  to 
receive  the  warmth  of  his  love  and  the  light  of  his  wisdom. 
That  the  eastern  sky  at  the  time  of  sunrising  is,  from  its 
splendour  and  magnificence,  a  beautiful  representation  of  the 
Deity  in  his  majesty  and  glory,  may  be  easily  perceived.  The 
Scriptures  frequently  mention  that  region  in  this  sense.  A 
strong  example  is  given  by  the  prophet,  where  he  says,  "  Be- 
hold, the  glory  of  the  God  of  Israel  came  from  the  way  of  the 
east,  "t  The  earliest  traditions  of  all  knowledge,  whether 
human  or  divine,  are  associated  with  some  ideas  of  the  east: 
and  wise  men  are  said  to  have  come  therefrom,  J  to  indicate 

*  Ezek.  xxviii.  4,  13.  t  Ezek.  xliii.  2. 

X  Matt.  ii.  1.  It  deserves,  also,  to  be  remarked,  that  those  wise  men  are 
said  to  have  seen  liis  star  in  the  east  (ver.  2).  This  is  commonly  understood 
to  mean  that  they  beheld  the  star  in  the  eastern  quarter  of  the  sky.  But 
this  cannot  be  the  true  idea.  (See  CamphilVs  '^ Four  Go.speZs,"  translated 
from  the  Greek.)  The  star  which  they  saw  must  have  been  really  in  the  west, 
for  they  were  guided  b}'  it  out  of  the  east  country  westward,  towards  Jeru- 
salem. The  meaning,  therefore,  is  that  the  wise  men  were  in  the  east  at 
the  time  they  beheld  the  star.  This  agrees  with  the  first  verse ;  and  it  is 
necessary  to  express  the  spiritual  sense,  which  is,  that  a  state  of  illumination 
from  the  Lord  is  necessary  to  direct  us  where  to  find  him. 


TURNING  TO  THE  EAST  IN  PRAYER.  75 

that  all  genuine  wisdom  in  man  is  conmiunicated  to  him  from 
the  Lord.  We  also  read,  on  several  occasions,  of  the  children 
of  the  east,*  because  they  represented  all  those  who  are  pos- 
sessed of  the  knowledges  of  truth  and  good  from  the  Lord. 
This  idea  is  the  source  of  that  holy  custom,  which  once  pre- 
vailed, of  turning  to  the  east  in  times  of  prayer.  It  is  also  the 
origin  of  a  similar  observance  in  certain  Christian  churches  at 
this  day,  on  the  repetition  of  their  creeds;  a  circumstance  which 
shows  that  a  custom  may  exist  long  after  the  reason  for  its 
adoption  has  ceased  to  be  attended  to. 

From  these  facts  and  considerations  it  is  evident  that  the  de- 
scription of  Adam's  being  placed  in  the  garden  eastward  in  Eden 
was  intended  to  signify  the  state  of  his  intelligence  and  love, 
together  with  his  continued  acknowledgment  that  those  bless- 
ings came  to  him  from  the  divine  munificence  and  care.f  This 
garden  is  said  to  have  been  planted  by  the  Lord,  to  teach  us  that 
the  insemination  of  every  spiritual  seed,  and  the  growth  of  all 
celestial  virtue,  are  derived  from  him :  they  are,  as  the  prophet 
says,  branches  of  his  planting  and  the  works  of  his  hands,  that 
he  may  be  glorified.  X  Such  was  the  garden  into  which  Adam 
— the  most  ancient  Church — was  happily  introduced,  and  which 
he  w^as  mercifully  required  to  "  dress  and  to  keep  "  :— to  enjoy, 
but  to  acknowledge  that  it  was  the  Lord's,  since  it  was  only  by 
such  acknowledgment  that  the  blessing  could  be  kept. 

We  may  also  observe  that  commentators  have  felt  great  difficulty  in  dis- 
covering what  is  meant  by  the  word  east,  as  used  in  several  parts  of  Scripture. 
Cahnet  confesses  it  on  the  ground  that  he  was  compelled  to  admit  that  it 
seemed  to  mean  places  norlJi  of  India.  (For  a  summary  statement,  see  Crnden, 
Art.  East.)  Others  have  seen  that  it  is  sometimes  used  without  any  regard  to 
the  eastern  quarter  of  the  heavens.  (See  Bev.  J.  F.  Denham,  3I.A.,  F.H.S., 
Kitto^s  Bibl.  Cyclopasdia,  Art.  East.)  Of  this  there  can  be  no  well-founded 
doubt ;  the  reason  is,  because  it  refers  to  the  Lord,  and  the  internal  sense  of 
the  context  required  that  it  should  be  so  employed. 

*  Judg.  vi.  3  ;  viii.  10  ;  1  Kings  iv.  30. 

t  Dr.  South  thus  nobly  describes  the  understanding  of  man  in  Paradise : 
"It  was  then  sublime,  clear,  and  aspiring,  and,  as  it  were,  the  soul's  upper 
region,  lofty  and  serene,  free  from  the  vapours  and  disturbances  of  the  inferior 
affections.  In  sum,  it  was  quick  and  lively,  open  as  the  day,  untainted  as 
the  morning,  full  of  the  innocence  and  sprightliness  of  youth  ;  it  gave  the 
soul  a  full,  bright  view  into  all  things,  and  was  not  only  a  window,  but  itself 
a  prospect." — Sears  on  Begencratiun,  p.  31. 

t  Isa.  Ix.  21. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  TREES  OF  THE  GARDEN:  SPECIFICALLY  THE  TREE  OF 
LIFE,  AND  THE  TREE  OF  KNOWLEDGE  OF  GOOD  AND  EVIL. 

"Know  that  in  the  trees,  fountains,  and  other  things  of  the  garden  of  Eden,  were  the 
figures  of  the  most  curious  things  by  which  the  first  Adam  saw  and  understood 
spiritual  things." — Rabbi  Simon  Bar  Abraham,  as  cited  from  Hittchenson'g 
Hebrew  Wriliiujs,  by  the  Rev.  E.  Madeley,  in  his  "  Science  of  Correspondences 
Elucidated,"  p.  125,  note. 

The  peculiar  language  applied  to  the  trees  of  the  garden  of 
Eden,  and,  specifically,  the  remarkable  names  given  to  two  of 
them,  contribute  some  additional  evidence  in  favour  of  those 
views  which  we  have  attempted  to  establish  in  the  preceding 
chapter.  We  shall  now  proceed  to  show  that  they  are  intended 
to  represent  some  'particular  conditions  of  that  intelligence  and 
love,  which  we  have  seen  to  be  the  general  inheritance  of  a 
superior  people — the  most  ancient  Church. 

It  is  admitted  that  ' '  much  more  seems  intended ' '  by  those 
trees  than  appears  upon  the  surface,  and  although,  in  some 
quarters,  difficulties  have  been  felt  in  determining  what  that  is,* 
the  cause  of  them  is  not  so  much  in  the  things  themselves  as  in 
the  predisposition  of  certain  minds  to  discover  some  physical 
meaning  where  it  is  not  intended.  The  Jews  interpreted  the 
prophecies  announcing  the  coming  of  the  Messiah  to  mean  the 
raising  up  of  an  earthly  prince,  in  order  to  confer  glory  upon 
the  worldly  kingdom  of  Israel.  Tliey  made  up  their  minds 
with  this  mistaken  idea,  and  thus  produced  a  difficulty  in 
understanding  the  true  meaning  of  those  predictions:  so  much 
so  that  they  were  actually  fulfilled  in  the  manifestation  and 
mission  of  Jesus  Christ,  without  their  being  acknowledged  by 
that  obstinate  people.  The  confessed  difficulty  in  comjjrehend- 
ing  what  is  meant  by  the  trees  of  the  garden,  though  different 
in  kind,  is  the  same  in  principle.     Some  pliysical  notion  has 

*  Dr.  A.  Clarke's  Commentary  on  Gen.  ii.  9. 

76 


OPINIONS    OF    THE    TWO    TREES.  77 

been  conceived  concerning  them,  whereas  some  mental  con- 
dition is  really  meant.  "Life"  and  "knowledge"  are  not 
vegetable  productions,  they  are  spiritual  and  intellectual  exist- 
ences :  and  the  attempt  to  find  the  former,  in  a  narrative  con- 
structed only  to  express  the  latter,  must  be  as  fruitless  as  the 
endeavour  to  find 

"  Fire  in  ice, 
Or  darkness  in  the  blaze  of  sunshine." 

There  existed  in  the  garden  four  sorts  of  trees:  first,  those 
which  were  ' '  pleasant  to  the  sight ' ' ;  second,  those  that  were 
"good  for  food";  third,  "the  tree  of  life,  Avhich  was  in  the 
midst  of  the  garden";  and,  fourth,  "the  tree  of  knowledge  of 
good  and  evil. ' '  * 

All  who  have  viewed  those  statements  in  a  merely  literal 
sense,  suppose  the  trees  "pleasant  to  the  sight"  to  have  con- 
sisted in  all  such  as  are  elegant  in  their  structure,  producing  a 
beautiful  variety  of  flowers,  and  exhibiting  to  the  eye  a  rich 
magnificence  of  colour.  It  has  also  been  thought  that  those 
which  were  ' '  good  for  food  ' '  meant  all  such  as  were  productive 
of  luxuriant  fruits,  suitable  for  human  sustenance  and  health. 

There  can  be  no  well-founded  objection  to  a  belief  that  gar- 
dens did  exist  among  the  Adamic  people,  or  that  trees  of  a 
delightful  and  exuberant  character  grew  within  them.  Still 
they  must  be  higher  facts  than  these  which  were  intended  by 
the  description.  These  only  contemplate  the  pleasure  of  the 
senses  and  the  nutrition  of  the  body.  But  revelation  points  to 
deeper  and  more  interior  things:  it  regards  the  delights  of  the 
mind  and  the  sustenance  of  the  soul;  and,  therefore,  the 
elegancies  of  nature  are  borrowed  and  employed  for  their  sym- 
bolical indication.  That  this  must  be  the  main  object  for  which 
those  trees  are  mentioned  seems  evident  from  "the  tree  of  life," 
and  "the  tree  of  knowledge  of  good  and  evil,"  with  which  they 
are  associated.  The  very  names  of  these  forcibly  express  the 
idea  of  spiritual  and  intellectual  things. 

We  are  aware  that  "the  tree  of  life"  has  been  thought  to 
have  been  a  tree  possessing  certain  medicinal  virtues,  which  were 
to  be  a  means  for  the  preservation  of  the  body,  and  to  act  as  an 

*  Gen.  ii.  9.  • 


78  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

antidote  against  death.  We  are  likewise  aware  that  "the  tree 
of  knowledge"  has  been  considered  as  a  tree  distinguished  by 
some  peculiar  jDroperty,  which,  when  taken,  was  capal)le  of 
increasing  knowledge.  But  those  notions  appear  to  us  as  rather 
the  efforts  of  a  lively  imagination  than  the  result  of  a  solid 
judgment.  The  idea  of  a  medicinal  shrub  being  called  the  "tree 
of  life,"  or  a  stimulating  esculent  "the  tree  of  knowledge,"  may 
be  plausible  to  some,  but  we  do  not  see  how  it  can  be  truth  to 
any.  The  former  idea  concerning  the  ' '  tree  of  life  ' '  is  founded 
upon  the  persuasion  that  man's  natural  body  was  intended  for 
immortality.  This  is  the  notion  Avhich  has  suggested  that 
invention;  if  such  notion  be  taken  away, — and  surely  science 
has  most  effectually  done  so,* — then  it  is  instantly  left  without 
a  resting-place,  and  so  must  perish.  But  the  supposed  perfec- 
tion of  man  necessarily  excludes  the  idea  of  this  tree  being  a 
medicinal  shrub.  The  latter  notion,  relating  to  the  tree  of 
knowledge,  n^ay  have  originated  in  the  circumstance  of  opium, 
and  other  stimulants,  having  l)een  employed  for  the  purpose  of 
exciting  the  imagination.  It  is,  indeed,  admitted  that  we  know 
no  other  ground  for  such  a  suggestion;  f  but  there  is  no  analogy 
between  the  actual  occurrence  and  the  sujoposed  fact.  A  vege- 
tal^le  stimulant,  by  which,  it  is  said,  man  may  be  induced  to 
dhplay  his  knowledge,  and  the  production  of  a  tree,  which  is 
supposed  to  communicate  knowledge,  are  two  essentially  different 
things.  The  one  is  to  induce  partial  intoxication  on  the  body, 
the  other  is  to  secure  intellectual  information  to  the  soul.      But 

*  "We  find  that  all  organized  matter,  that  is,  everything  that  has  life, 
vegetable  and  animal,  is  formed  upon  a  plan  which  renders  death  necessary, 
or  something  eqnivalent  to  death.  The  first  step  to  life  in  the  corculum  of  a 
vegetable  seed,  or  the  atomic  rndiment  of  the  animal  body,  in  both  cases  so 
minute  and  recondite  as  to  Ije  inaccessible  to  human  cognizance,  commences 
a  course  of  changes,  which  imply  an  inevitable  termination.  From  dead 
organic  matter  the  living  structure  derives  its  necessary  supplies.  The  pro- 
cess of  nutrition,  assimilation,  growth,  exhaustion,  and  reparation  hold  on 
their  irresistible  course,  to  decay  and  dissolution  ;  in  another  word,  to  death. 
Some  persons  have  dreamed  of  sustaining  animal  life  by  exclusively  vegetable 
food,  ignorant  that  in  every  leaf,  or  root,  or  fruit,  which  they  feed  upon,  they 
put  to  death  myriads  of  living  creatures." — Dr.  Fye  Smith.  Scrip,  and  Geo. 
Second  edition,  pp.  93,  94. 

t  Dr.  A.  Clarke's  Commentary. 


SIGNIFICATION    OF    TREES    IN    GENERAL.  79 

even  if  any  resemblance  could  be  established  between  the  two 
ideas,  and  an  argument  founded  thereon  to  favour  the  supposi- 
tion, then  it  would  remain  to  be  shown  how  man  could  have 
been  in  a  state  of  perfection,  when  he  must  have  been  destitute 
of  the  knowledge  which  this  tree  was  adapted  to  communicate; 
and,  also,  how  the  eating  of  it  should  be  a  sin,  which,  as  we 
learn  from  the  sequel,  it  most  distinctly  was.  These  queries 
must  remain  unanswered.  The  oljscurities,  arising  from  a  sup- 
posed natural  sense,  abide  in  all  their  force;  they  do  not  admit 
of  being  removed:  examination  on  such  grounds  cannot  eject 
them ;  and  the  attempt  to  do  so  will  tend  rather  to  increase  their 
number  than  diminish  their  force.  This,  indeed,  has  long  been 
felt  by  large  and  pious  minds;  and  commentators  who  have  been 
wishful  to  explain,  have  been  compelled  to  apologize.  It  is, 
therefore,  necessary  to  take  some  other  ground — ground  that 
may  be  more  fertile  in  spiritual  thought  and  rational  satis- 
faction. 

Trees  are  frequently  mentioned  in  the  Word  in  a  purely 
figurative  sense.  They  constantly  refer  to  man,  or  to  the  things 
pertaining  to  him.  It  is  said  of  the  righteous  man,  that  "he 
shall  be  like  a  tree  planted  by  the  rivers  of  water,  that  bringeth 
forth  his  fruit  in  his  season";*  but  of  the  ungodly,  that  they 
are  as  "  trees  whose  fruit  withereth."  f  Now,  a  man  is  either 
good  or  bad  by  virtue  of  such  principles,  and  it  was  of  the 
operation  of  these,  and  their  production  in  the  characters  of 
men,  that  the  Lord  said,  "  Every  good  tree  bringeth  forth  good 
fruit;  but  a  corrupt  tree  bringeth  forth  evil  fruit.  Wherefore 
by  their  fruits  ye  shall  know  them.  "|  But  the  principles  of 
good  and  evil  are  very  various;  and,  therefore,  we  find  some  of 
them  particularized  by  trees  of  a  specific  character.  Thus,  the 
Lord  said,  "All  the  trees  of  the  field  shall  know  that  I,  the 
Lord,  have  brought  down  the  high  tree,  have  exalted  the  loiv 
tree,  have  dried  up  the  green  tree,  and  have  made  the  dry  tree 
to  flourish. "§  Here  by  the  "trees  of  the  field"  are  denoted 
all  the  living  perceptions  of  genuine  truth;  hence  it  is  said  of 
them,  that  they  should  know  such  things.     To  "bring  down 

*  Psa.  i.  3.  t  J"fle  12. 

i  Matt.  vii.  17,  20.  §  Ezek.  xvii.  24. 


80  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

the  high  tree,"  denotes  the  humiliation  of  intellectual  pride;  to 
' '  exalt  the  low  tree, ' '  signifies  the  elevation  of  unpretending 
knowledge;  to  "  dry  up  the  green  tree,"  is  to  bring  desolation 
upon  faith  alone;  and  "  to  make  the  dr}'  tree  to  flourish,"  is  to 
render  the  solid  knowledge  of  truth  fruitful  in  all  manner  of 
good  works  of  love  and  use.  It  was  because  the  fig-tree  was 
merely  green  with  leaves  and  destitute  of  fruit,  representing 
faith  without  charity,  that  the  Lord  said,  "  Let  no  fruit  grow  on 
thee  henceforward  for  ever.  And  presently  the  fig-tree  withered 
away. ' '  *  Mere  truth  in  the  mind  is  as  a  dry  tree,  when  it  exists 
only  as  an  intellectuality:  without  the  moisture  and  flexibility 
of  love  it  is  severe  and  hard;  nevertheless,  it  contains  within 
itself  the  elemental  properties  of  spiritual  fruitful ness,  and  thus 
the  capabilities  of  realizing  the  declaration  of  the  Psalmist, 
that  ' '  the  trees  of  the  Lord  are  full  of  sap. "  f  It  is  because 
trees  in  general  signify  such  mental  things  as  belong  to  the 
interiors  of  the  mind,  and  because  both  the  one  and  the  other 
are  so  various,  that  so  many  species  of  trees  are  mentioned  in 
the  Word,  every  species  signifying  something  different.  Of 
this  we  have  a  striking  and  beautiful  example  in  the  parable 
of  Jotham,  in  which  the  trees  are  described  as  going  forth  to 
anoint  a  king  over  them.  | 

The  proximate  historical  sense  of  that  parable  relates  to  the 
circumstances  in  which  the  people  of  Israel  had  then  placed 
themselves.  The  trees  in  search  of  a  king,  represented  the 
people  in  their  selection  of  a  ruler.  The  refusal  of  the  olive, 
the  fig,  and  the  vine-trees,  denoted  that  superior  men  had 
declined  to  accept  the  government  of  such  a  stiff-necked  and 
rebellious  people;  while  its  reception  by  the  bramble  was  de- 
signed to  express  the  consent  of  Abimelech,  who  was  a  base- 
born  and  treacherous  man. 

This,  however,  could  not  be  all  that  was  intended  to  be  stated 
by  a  parable  which  owed  its  origin  to  inspiration,  and  was  de- 
signed to  be  a  revelation.  That  sense  only  connects  it  with  the 
outer  and  worldly  history  of  a  bygone  people.  As  such  it  can 
only  be  the  vehicle  for  bringing  down  some  more  interior  truths, 
which  may  apply,  and  be  instructive,  to  all  future  ages  of  the 
Church. 

*  Matt.  xxi.  19.  fPsa.  civ.  16.  |  Judg.  ix.  8-1. 


THE    TREES    OF    LIFE    AND    KNOWLEDGE.  81 

Viewed  under  this  aspect,  the  trees  which  were  in  search  of  a 
king  to  anoint  over  them,  represented  the  natural  state  of  man, 
mentally  acknowledging  that  some  principle  ought  to  reign  in 
the  mind  and  rule  the  conduct.  The  application  made  to  the 
olive,  the  fig,  and  the  vine-trees,  denotes  its  confession  of  the 
fitness  of  celestial,  spiritual,  and  doctrinal  truth  to  perform  this 
duty:  but  their  refusal  of  that  office  signifies  that  the  natural 
state  of  man  is  such  that,  however  much  he  may  make  a  mental 
acknowledgment  of  the  fitness  of  such  principles  to  rule  him, 
he  has  as  yet  no  spiritual  state  really  capable  of  submitting  to 
their  mild  and  valuable  laws.  The  only  government  which  can 
be  brought  to  bear  effectually  upon  such  a  condition,  consists 
in  those  appearances  of  truth  which  the  letter  of  the  Word 
exhibits,  and  in  which  God  is  spoken  of  as  being  fierce  and 
angry,  forbidding  and  unlovely:  and  these  appearances  of  truth 
are  the  bramble.  God  appeared  to  Moses  in  a  burning  bush 
(bramble),  to  represent  those  appearances  of  truth  in  the  letter 
of  the  Word,  by  which  natural  men  were  to  be  led  and  gov- 
erned. 

Thus  we  see  that  all  the  trees  referred  to  in  the  parable  signify 
different  classes  of  mental  perceptions;  and  so  it  is  with  in- 
numerable other  cases,  which  could  be  readily  cited  from  the 
Word.  But  enough  may  have  been  said  to  prepare  us  for 
admitting  that  the  trees  of  Eden  must  have  been  mentioned, 
to  represent  those  varied  and  beautiful  perceptions  of  truth, 
which  filled  with  light  and  loveliness  the  minds  of  the  jieople 
of  the  most  ancient  Church.  By  perception  is  here  meant  that 
interior  capability  l)y  which  the  men  of  those  times  were 
enabled  to  acknowledge,  that  truth  is  truth  and  good  is  good, 
as  soon  as  such  things  were  presented  to  their  thought,  and  so 
to  dispense  with  those  reasoning  processes  which,  as  it  is  well 
known,  the  men  of  after  times  have  been  compelled  to  use,  in 
order  to  procure  such  knowledge.  This  perceptive  state  was  that 
referred  to  by  the  Lord,  when  he  said,  "Let  your  communica- 
tions be.  Yea,  yea;  Nay,  nay";  the  reasoning  state  is  intimated 
in  that  other  declaration,  "Whatsoever  is  more  than  these 
Cometh  of  evil."*  Reasoning  is  the  result  of  an  obscurity  of 
thought,  which  is  among  the  evils  of  the  fall;  perception  per- 

*  Matt.  V.  37, 
8     ' 


82  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

ished  in  that  calamity;  true  Christianity  is  adapted  to  restore 
the  blessing,  and  re-plant  the  trees  which  were  its  ancient  rep- 
resentatives. 

The  trees  of  the  garden  of  Eden,  then,  were  the  perceptions 
and  principles  proper  to  the  high  intelligence  of  the  most  ancient 
people.  The  trees  "pleasant  to  the  sight,"  denoted  the  in- 
ternal perceptions  of  heavenly  truth ;  because  all  such  truth  is 
pleasant  to  the  intellectual  eye:  and  the  trees  which  were  "good 
for  food,"  signified  the  internal  perceptions  of  heavenl}^  good ; 
because  all  such  good  is  the  food  and  nutrition  of  spiritual  and 
celestial  life.  These  were  among  the  distinguished  inheritances 
of  those  superior  men. 

But  their  most  remarkable  perceptions  are  described  to  us  as 
' '  the  tree  of  life  in  the  midst  of  the  garden,  *  and  the  tree  of 
knowledge  of  good  and  evil."  It  never  would  have  been  said 
that  the  Lord  planted  these  two  trees  in  the  garden,  one  of 
which  was  to  prove  a  stumbling-block  to  its  inhabitants,  unless 
the  circumstance  had  been  intended  to  sustain  some  spiritual 
representation,  consistent  with  the  true  order  of  Divine  Provi- 
dence in  respect  to  the  interior  things  of  men.  It  is  easy  to  see 
that  the  "life,"t  which  is  here  referred  to,  must  mean  the 
inmost  influences  of  holy  men;  and  the  "knowledge"  spoken 
of  must  be  that  very  knowledge  which  had  contributed  to  raise 
them  into  that  elevated  condition. 

Life  is  an  invisible,  intangible  possession,  evidencing  its  ex- 
istence by  the  production  of  consequences  upon  our  organiza- 
tion; it  is  a  growing  and  fruit-bearing  principle  in  man,  in 
which  respect  it  may  be  called  a  tree;  faint,  indeed,  and  feeble 


*  At  the  3d  verse  of  the  3(1  chapter,  the  tree  of  knoivledge  is  spoken  of  as 
being  ill  the  midft  of  the  garden.  The  reason  for  these  different  statements  is 
this  : — So  long  as  Aihim  continued  in  liis  integrity,  the  tree  of  life — the  per- 
ception of  love — was  his  inmost  principle  ;  but  when  he  declined  therefrom, 
as  the  third  chapter  describes  him  to  have  done,  tlien  the  tree  of  knowledge 
— the  perception  of  truth — became  his  inmost  principle.  The  change  which 
had  taken  place  in  his  state  altered  the  position  of  the  trees,  and  so  indicates 
the  gradual  manner  in  which  he  fell. 

t  Cliaiijim—Yives.  The  plural  form  is  used  in  the  original,  liecause  the 
religions  life  of  the  man,  here  treated  of,  was  displayed  under  a  twofold 
aspect— viz.,  the  life  of  his  off'ccfionf^,  and  the  life  of  his  thoui/Iilx. 


THE    TREE    OF    LIFE    EXTANT.  83 

in  its  beginnings,  but  successiveh'  sending  out  more  vigorous 
developments  and  powers. 

So  the  KNOWLEDGE  of  good 'and  evil  is  a  mental  acquisition, 
gradually  putting  forth  its  tender  shoots  and  stronger  limbs, 
attaining  greater  height  and  showing  more  luxuriance,  both  in 
its  utterances  and  its  acts;  in  which  respects  it,  also,  is  most 
aptly  likened  to  a  tree. 

Now  these  inmost  influences,  which  are  here  denominated  the 
tree  of  lives,  consist  in  love, — love  to  God,  and  love  to  man, — 
loves  Avhich  derive  their  essential  quality  from  the  Lord,  and  so 
induce  an  intellectual  faith  concerning  Him. 

Every  one  who  will  seriously  reflect  upon  this  subject  must 
conclude  that  such  loves  are  not  only  the  life  of  a  religious 
man's  will,  but,-  also,  the  life  of  his  understanding.  Love 
is  the  primary  life  of  such  a  man;  without  this  there  could 
be  no  living  faith;  man  could  not  think  if  he  were  not  first 
influenced  by  love  to  do  so;  he  could  not  act  if  the  love  of 
action  were  removed.  Whatsoever  a  man  thinks,  l)elieves,  and 
does,  proceeds  from  love  as  its  living  cause.  He  is  senseless, 
thoughtless,  inanimate,  and  dead,  to  everything  he  does  not 
love.  As  his  love  grows  cold,  his  thoughts  wax  torpid;  but  if 
his  love  inflame,  his  imagination  is  illuminated,  his  utterances 
become  forcible,  and  his  actions  energetic.  ^Mlatever  a  man 
loves  i^re-eminently,  he  thinks  of  continually,  and  it  will  more 
or  less  display  itself  in  every  act.  The  reason  for  all  this  is, 
because  human  love  is  the  verv  life  of  the  human  character.  To 
love  God  is  the  first  great  duty  of  all  religion,  and  it  is  plainly 
intended  by  him  to  be  in  the  midst  of  every  other  excellence  in 
man;  and  thus  it  is  a  tree  of  life  in  the  midst  of  the  garden — a 
tree,  because  of  its  growing  and  fruit-bearing  qualities;  and  a 
tree  of  life,  because  it  imparts  animation  to  every  thought  and 
every  duty.* 

It  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  the  love  of  God  is  the  ruling 

*  Philo  says,  "By  the  tree  of  life  is  metaphorically  meant  love  to  God,  the 
greatest  of  virtues,  hy  which  the  soul  is  reudered  immortal  ;"  and  hy  "the 
tree  of  knowledge  of  good  and  evil  is  signified  that  prudence  which  discrimi- 
nates between  things  that  are  hy  nature  opposite  and  contrary." — De  Mundi 
Opificio. 

Maimonides  calls  the  law,  "a  tree  of  life." — De  PcfnUeiifia,  \k.,  sec  2. 


84  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    IXSPIRATION. 

life  of  angels;  and  if  so,  how  proper  is  it  to  be  spoken  of  as  the 
central  life  of  celestial  men — the  life  that  was  in  the  midst  of 
their  intelligence — their  intellectual  garden.  That  this  is  a  cor- 
rect view  of  the  subject  is  evident,  not  only  from  its  approving 
itself  satisfactorily  to  our  reason,  but  from  the  circumstance  of 
the  tree  of  life  being  yet  extant,  and  the  fruit  thereof,  con- 
ditionally, offered  to  the  acceptance  of  universal  man.  In  the 
Revelation  it  is  written  that  the  Lord  said,  "To  him  that  over- 
cometh  will  I  give  to  eat  of  the  tree  of  life,  which  is  in  the 
midst  of  the  paradise  of  God."*  To  "overcome"  means  the 
successful  resistance  of  what  is  evil;  and  then  "to  eat  of  the 
tree  of  life ' '  plainly  denotes,  to  be  filled  with  the  good  of  love, 
which  is  said  to  be  in  the  midst  of  the  paradise  of  God,  to  de- 
note that  it  is  the  inmost  principle  of  all  heavenly  intelligence 
and  truth. 

Seeing,  then,  that  the  tree  of  life  was  significant  of  the  good 
of  love  to  the  Lord,  as  it  existed  in  the  most  ancient  Church,  we 
are  the  more  readily  prepared  to  accept  the  idea  that  the  tree  of 
knowledge  of  good  and  evil  was  representative  of  all  the  truth 
of  faith  respecting  Him.  The  proposition  that  the  truth  of 
faith  is  the  tree  of  knowledge  of  good  and  e\'il,  at  once  affects 
us  as  a  lucid  fact,  which  reasonings  cannot  brighten,  but  might 
obscure.  The  solid  knowledge  of  the  pre-eminently  religious 
man  is  genuine  truth,  and  this  is  the  foundation  of  his  faith; 
so  that  while  his  love  of  God  is  his  "tree  of  life,"  his  faith  in 
God  is  his  ' '  tree  of  knowledge. ' '  These  are  the  two  essential 
things  of  true  religion  with  the  human  race,  and  thus  we  learn, 
as  it  were  in  the  compass  of  a  nutshell,  the  bright  and  practical 
ideas  intended  to  be  represented  by  those  two  trees.  The  reason 
whv  the  eating  of  one  of  them  was  prohibited  we  shall  show  in 
another  place. 

*  Rev.  ii.  7. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  RIVER  OF  EDEN,  AND  ITS  BEING  PARTED  INTO 
FOUR  HEADS. 

"The  fairest  test  of  a  theory  is  its  application  to  the  solution  of  a  phenomenon." — 
John  Bird  Sum.ver,  M.A.,  Recordu  of  Creation.     Second  edition,  p.  235. 

If  Eden  and  its  garden  were  not  intended  to  express  geograph- 
ical positions  of  the  earth;  if  the  trees  of  the  garden  did  not  mean 
productions  of  the  vegetable  kingdom;  and  if  all  these  things 
be  mentioned  to  signify  internal  states  and  principles,  belonging 
to  a  highly  cultivated  condition  of  religious  society;  then  it  is 
easy  to  infer  that  by  the  river  and  its  partings  are  not  to  be  un- 
derstood natural  waters,  but  the  source  and  order  Avhence  the 
several  degrees  of  their  intelligence  were  to  be  preserved  in 
growth  and  fruitfulness. 

Those  who  could  compare  a  highly  cultivated  mind  to  a  skil- 
fully planted  garden,  and  clearly  perceive  the  general  analogy 
existing  between  them,  could  also  easily  descril)e  the  more  par- 
ticular condition  of  such  a  mind,  by  some  other  more  particular 
circumstances  which  such  a  garden  would  require  for  the  main- 
tenance of  its  fertility  and  beauty.  When  such  a  people  talked 
of  lands  and  rivers  in  connection  with  the  spiritualities  of  re- 
ligion, it  was  for  the  purpose  of  giving  them  a  representative 
significance  of  internal  things.  They  spoke  of  the  geography  of 
nature  to  express  the  conditions  of  intellect.  They  knew  that 
the  world  of  nature  was  in  correspondence  with  the  world  of 
mind.  Nor  has  this  idea  entirely  vanished  from  the  Church. 
How  common  it  is  for  Christians  to  speak  of  Zion,  Canaan,  and 
Jordan,  to  signify  some  internal  and  religious  things  !  In  such 
cases  they  do  not  think  of  the  mountain,  land,  or  river,  Init 
some  spiritual  state,  which  they  are  conceived  to  signify.  Tliose 
to  whom  the  magnificence  of  nature  was  as  a  theatre,  represent- 


86  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

ing  the  gorgeous  things  of  spiritual  and  heavenly  life;  those  who 

could 

"  Find  tongues  in  trees,  books  iu  rnnniug  brooks, 
Sermons  iu  stoues,  and  good  in  everything," 

would  not  only  speak  of  the  general  condition  of  the  mind  by 
some  general  resemblance  in  the  world,  but  they  would  repre- 
sent its  particular  states  by  some  particular  features  of  physical 
nature.  To  such  a  people,  a  river,  with  its  streams,  would  be 
eminently  suggestive.  In  after  times  the  beauty  which  they 
confer  upon  the  landscape,  the  fertility  which  they  induce  upon 
their  banks,  their  gentle  flow,  and  sky-reflecting  qualities,  have 
originated  poetic  thought  and  writing:  but  the  men  of  the  most 
ancient  times  saw  in  such  things  something  deeper  than  the 
modern  poet;  they  beheld  in  such  objects  those  interior  and 
spiritual  realities  which  are  the  soul  and  origin  of  poetry.  With 
them  the  thought  of  a  natural  river  was  instantly  changed  into 
the  idea  of  wisdom,  and  the  varieties  of  wisdom  they  would  in- 
dicate by  giving  names  to  its  streams.*  We  need  not  descend 
into  secular  history  for  evidence  of  this  fact;  it  is  plentifully 
recognized  in  the  Sacred  Scriptures,  there  being  numerous  pas- 
sages constructed  on  the  circumstance  of  such  a  relationship 
being  perceived.  Those  who.  are  in  the  satisfactions  arising 
from  divine  instruction  are  said  "to  drink  of  the  river  of  God's 
pleasures."  f  The  waters,  also,  which  the  prophet  saw  issuing 
from  the  house  which  he  beheld  in  vision,  are  described  to  have 
successively  deepened,  until  they  became  a  river  that  could  not 
be  passed,  |  to  show  how  the  divine  truths  which  are  proper  to 
the  Lord' s  Church  are  continually  heightening,  until  they  attain 
that  elevation  of  wisdom  which  no  man  can  pass.  Again,  the 
Psalmist  says,  "  There  is  a  river,  the  streams  whereof  make  glad 
the  city  of  God  " ;  §  where,  by  a  river  is  meant  the  divine  wisdom 
of  the  Holy  Word,  and  by  the  "streams  whereof,"  the  numerous 
truths  which  descend  therefrom;  and  these  are  said  to  "make 
glad  the  city  of  God,"  because  they  are  productive  of  delight  and 

*  The  faV)les  conoerning  the  river  Styx,  Charon  crossing  the  Stygian  Lake, 
and  the  cousecration  of  the  fountains  of  Piudus,  Helicon,  and  Parnassus  to 
the  Muses,  witli  many  other  mythological  intimations  referring  to  rivers, 
their  sources,  and  results,  all  took  their  rise  from  this  perception. 

t  Psa.  xxxvi.  8.  %  Ezek.  xlvii.  1-5.  ^  Psa.  xlvi.  4. 


SPIRITUAL    MEANING    OF    A    RIVER.  87 

happiness  to  the  Church.  There  is  a  reniarkaljle  similarity,  in  the 
general  idea,  between  this  passage  and  that  which  says,  ' '  A  river 
went  out  of  Eden  to  water  the  garden,  and  from  thence  it  was 
parted  and  became  into  four  heads."  *  "The  garden"  is  as 
' '  the  city  of  God" ;  the  ' ' river ' '  and  ' '  streams  ' '  as  the  ' '  wisdom 
and  truths  ' '  which  impart  gladness  and  refreshing.  It  is  like- 
wise written,  that  "the  earth  is  watered  with  the  river  of 
God,"  t  which  spiritually  means  that  the  external  man  is 
rendered  fertile  in  his  works  of  use  through  the  inflowings  of 
divine  wisdom  from  the  Word.  John  said  that  he  was  shown 
' '  a  pure  river  of  water  of  life,  clear  as  cr3'stal,  proceeding  out 
of  the  throne  of  God  "  ;  ]:  where  the  "pure  river  of  water  of  life  " 
plainly  denotes  the  genuine  truths  of  the  Holy  ^yord.  These 
are  they  which  impart  spiritual  life  to  man:  hence  the  Lord 
said,  "The  water  [i.e.,  the  truth]  that  I  shall  give  him  [the 
man  who  comes  to  him]  shall  be  in  him  a  well  of  water 
springing  up  into  everlasting  life. ' '  §  Every  one  may  perceive 
that  it  can  be  nothing  else  but  divine  wisdom  which  proceeds 
as  a  river  from  the  throne  of  God,  and  also  that  its  purposes 
must  be  to  secure  salvation  and  eternal  life  to  all  who  will  re- 
ceive it.  It  is  said  to  be  clear  as  crystal,  to  denote  that  it  is  as 
pure  as  any  spiritual  illumination  can  perceive  it. 

Now  it  will  be  observed  that  the  river  of  Eden  is  without  a 
name:  yet,  as  its  uses  were  to  water  the  garden  and  keep  it  in 
fertility,  it  may  reasonably  be  considered  as  the  river  of  life, 
which  was  the  inflowing  of  wisdom  from  the  Lord,  in  order  to 
maintain,  among  the  most  ancient  people,  their  state  of  religious 
eminence  in  its  integrity  and  greatness.  The  reason  why  this 
river  is  spoken  of  without  a  name  is  probably  because  it  repre- 
sented the  divine  wisdom,  as  it  is  in  itself,  aiid  which,  as  such, 
is  inexpressil)le  to  finite  thought.  It  is  only  when  this  river 
of  wisdom  becomes  parted,  l)y  entering  into  the  human  mind, 
and  there  presenting  itself  to  the  distinct  faculties  by  which  it 
is  distinguished,  that  it  will  admit  of  nominal  description, 
because  it  is  only  then  that  we  obtain  distinct  perceptions  of  it. 
Hence  it  was  only  when  the  river  entered  the  garden  that  it  was 
"parted";    it   was  then  that   it    "became  into  four   heads," 

*  Gen.  ii.  10,  .       t  I'su.  Ixv.  9. 

X  Rev.  xxii,  1.  g  John  iv.  14. 


OO  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

which  were  respectively  called  Pison,  Gihon,  Hiddekel,  and 
Phrat. 

It  must  be  admitted  that  divine  wisdom,  as  it  is  in  itself, 
cannot  fall  into  finite  apprehension;  and  every  one  must  see 
that,  in  order  to  its  being  understood  at  all  by  man,  it  must 
enter  into  some  degree  of  his  mind.  These  degrees  are  several; 
and  divine  wisdom  is  designed  for  all  these,  and  to  affect  them 
all  in  the  way  of  rendering  them  fertile  in  the  things  of  use. 
These  degrees,  in  general,  are  spoken  of  as  three,  and  they  con- 
sist of  celestial,  spiritual,  and  natural;  but  there  is  also  the 
rational  degree,  which  exists  between  the  spiritual  and  natural; 
this  is  a  medium  principle,  which  communicates  between  the 
scientific  things  which  act  upon  the  mind  from  without,  and 
the  intellectual  perceptions  which  operate  upon  it  from  within; 
and  thus,  in  some  measure,  it  belongs  to  both.  The  celestial 
pertains  to  the  will  and  its  affections;  the  spiritual  to  the  under- 
standing and  its  thoughts;  the  natural  to  scieniifics  and  such 
common  knowledges  as  are  obtainable  from  the  light  of  the 
world.  The  rational  belongs  to  each  of  the  latter  two,  and  its 
office  in  religious  things  is,  as  it  were,  to  open  a  door  to  let  in 
spiritual  influence  upon  the  natural  mind. 

These,  then,  are  the  degrees  or  principles  of  mind  which  the 
river  of  divine  Avisdom  is  intended  to  affect  with  its  fertilizing 
power.  The  will,  so  as  to  preserve  in  it  the  orderly  affections 
of  love;  the  understanding,  with  the  view  of  keeping  in  it  the 
illuminated  intelligence  of  truth;  the  reason,  for  the  purpose  of 
keeping  it  pure  and  open  for  the  descent  of  interior  thought 
into  exterior  cognizance;  and  the  scientific,  in  order  to  deter- 
mine its  purposes  of  use.  This,  also,  is  the  order  in  which 
divine  wisdom  descends  into  celestial  men,  and  so  exercises  its 
benign  purpose  upon  their  whole  character;  and  these  are  the 
things  signified  by  the  river  after  it  entered  the  garden,  and 
then  became  parted  into  four  heads,  the  streams  from  which 
are  called  Pison,  Gihon,  Hiddekel,  and  Phrat.*     These  names, 

*  Pison  and  Gihon  are  utterly  unknown  to  geography,  and  the  best  scholars 
in  oriental  languages  now  consider  them  only  as  appellations  signifying  a 
stream  in  general  :  in  this  sense  they  may  easily  be  seen  as  a  beautiful  figure 
of  the  inflowing  of  differfnt  graces  into  the  hnnian  mind. 

Hiddekel  is  commonly  said  to  be  the  Tigris.     About  the  truth  of  this  there 


SPIRITUAL   MEANING    OF   PISON.  89 

as  Hebrew  expressions,  are,  in  their  literal  sense,  significant  of 
ideas  which  bear  very  closely  upon  the  spiritual  meaning  they 
were  intended  to  sustain. 

Thus,  by  Pison  is  literally  meant  a  changing  or  extending 
stream;  but  spiritually,  it  denotes  the  influence  of  divine  wis- 
dom upon  the  will  and  its  affections:  through  this  the  will  is 
continually  changing  its  quality  by  an  upward  ascent  in  holy 
things,  and  so  directing  its  affections  in  the  way  of  performing 
more  extended  uses.  Every  one  sees  that  these  must  be  the 
results  of  such  an  influence,  and,  also,  that  information  con- 
cerning it  comes  within  the  scope  and  purpose  of  revelation  to 
disclose.  The  will  is  the  inmost  of  the  human  faculties,  and  it 
was  created  for  the  reception  and  throne  of  love  or  goodness. 
But  love  or  goodness  requires  illumination  from  a  stream  of 
wisdom,  in  order  to  direct  its  impulse,  regulate  its  attachment, 
and  disclose  its  duties.  Love  without  wisdom  would  be  a  blind 
feeling.  It  is  by  truth  that  good  is  taught  and  led  into  its 
activity.  Good  could  not  be  developed  if  truth  did  not  teach 
us  what  it  was.  We  learn  what  is  virtuous  by  the  precepts 
which  inform  us;  but  truth  completes  its  work  only  when  it 
fixes  the  good  which  it  inculcates  as  an  enlightened  affection  in 
the  will.  This,  th^n,  is  what  is  meant  by  the  influence  of 
divine  wisdom  upon  the  will  and  its  affections,  of  which  Pison 

is  no  certainty.  Scientific  geography  cannot  reconcile  the  features  of  that 
river  with  the  Scriptural  account  of  Hiddekel.  Etymological  resemblances, 
rather  than  geographical  features,  have  led  to  that  opinion.  It  is  thought  to 
be  the  Tigris,  becj^use  this  river  in  Aramaean  is  called  Digla,  in  Arabic 
Diglat,  in  Zend  Teger,  in  Pelvi  Tegera^  whence  it  is  said  have  arisen  both 
the  Aramaean  and  Arabic  form,  to  which  is  to  be  traced  the  Hebrew  Dekel, 
divested  of  its  prefix  Hid,  which  means  rapid,  so  that  Hid-dekel  signifies  the 
rapid  Tigris.  Phrat  is  said  to  be  the  Euphrates,  for  similar  etymological 
reasons,  into  which  we  need  not  enter.  The  Scriptural  account,  however,  of 
Hiddekel  and  Phrat  is,  that  they  were  but  branches  of  another  river  that 
flowed  in  Eden,  and  which  was  divided  in  the  garden.  The  geographical 
facts  concerning  the  Tigris  and  Euphrates  are  that  they  take  their  rise  in  the 
mountains  of  Armenia,  fifteen  miles  apart,  and  so  do  not  answer  to  the 
sacred  description.  The  reason  is,  because  the  Scriptural  account  is  not 
given  for  geographical  purposes.  It  was  written  among  a  very  ancient 
people,  with  whom,  there  is  much  evidence  to  prove,  it  was  customary  to 
compare  wisdom  to  a  river,  and  to  represent  its  particular  influences  upon  the 
miud  by  streams  with  descriptive  appellations. 


90  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

is  significant.  Hence  it  is  said  to  have  encompassed  the  whole 
land  of  Havilah,*  where  there  is  gold,  to  inform  us  that  it 
includes  all  those  characteristics  of  the  will  which  are  genuinely 
good.  Every  excellence  of  the  human  character  arises  out  of 
the  divine  influences  upon  the  human  will  when  disposed  to 
love;  and  love  is  spiritual  gold,  more  or  less  pure,  according  to 
the  exalted  nature  of  the  objects  towards  which  it  is  directed; 
in  this  case,  the  gold  is  said  to  have  been  good,  to  express  that 
its  direction  was  towards  the  Lord:  it,  therefore,  may  be  taken 
as  a  precise  definition  of  its  meaning.  Besides  gold,  there  were 
also  "bdellium  and  the  onyx-stone, "f  to  represent  the  truth 
and  the  faith  that  were  in  correspondence  Avith  that  love. 

Every  one  must  have  noticed  that  gold  and  precious  stones 
are  frequently  mentioned  in  the  Word  to  represent  the  spiritual 
riches  of  goodness  and  truth.  There  is  a  perceptible  analogy 
between  such  natural  and  spiritual  things.  Pure  gold  is  among 
the  most  valuable  of  worldly  possessions,  and  so  it  is  a  fit  repre- 
sentative of  that  genuine  good  which  is  the  most  precious  of  all 
heavenly  gifts.  It  is  on  this  account  that  the  Lord  said,  "I 
counsel  thee  to  buy  of  me  gold  tried  in  the  fire,  that  thou 
mayest  be  rich."|  The  prophet,  also,  when  describing  the 
decline  of  good  among  the  people,  said,  "How  is  the  gold 
become  dim!  how  is  the  most  fine  gold  changed!  "§  The 
genuine  Church,  the  New  Jerusalem,  is  described  to  be  a  City 
of  Pure  Gold,  for  no  other  reason  than  to  represent  the  genuine 
good  by  which  it  will  be  influenced,  and  of  which  its  establish- 
ment will  be  productive. 

So,  likewise,  precious  stones,  because  of  the  difference  in 
their  resplendence,  are  significant  of  truths  in  their  diversified 
brillianc}'.  The  twelve  precious  stones,  which  were  the  Urim 
and  Thunnnim  on  Aaron's  ephod,  represented  the  divine  truth 

*  There  is  nothing  known  of  this  land  beyond  conjecture.  The  word 
Havilah  means  to  bring  forth ;  this  is  what  the  divine  wisdom  is  intended  to 
accomplish, — to  bring  forth  whatever  is  good  and  lovely. 

t  Dr.  A.  Clarke  sa3's  that  "it  is  impossible  to  say  what  is  the  precise 
meaning  of  the  original  words  ;  and  at  this  distance  of  time  and  place,  it  is 
of  little  consequence  "  (!  !) — of  little  consequence  to  know  the  precise  mean- 
ing of  what  God  has  caused  to  be  written  in  his  Word  for  our  instruction  ! 

X  Rev.  iii.  18.  §  Lam.  iv.  1. 


GIHON    COMPASSING    CUSH.  91 

in  all  its  vast  and  magnificent  variety;  and  they  were  set  in 
gold,  and  worn  upon  the  breast,  to  signify  that  they  originated 
in  love.  *  The  foundations  of  the  New  Jerusalem  were  ' '  gar- 
nished with  all  manner  of  precious  stones,"  f  to  signify  that 
the  real  Church  of  God  is  grounded  upon  every  pure  and 
genuine  truth.  So  that,  by  the'gold  and  precious  stones  which 
were  in  the  land  of  Havilah,  are  denoted  the  affection  of  love, 
with  its  corresponding  truths,  implanted  in  the  interiors  of  the 
mind.  This  is  particularly  confirmed  by  the  statement  of  the 
Prophet,  who,  when  treating  of  man  in  the  possession  of  heav- 
enly riches,  says,  ' '  Full  of  wisdom,  and  perfect  in  beauty.  Thou 
hast  been  in  Eden,  the  garden  of  God;  every  precious  stone 
was  thy  covering."  J  Such,  then,  is  the  condition  of.  the  will 
of  the  celestial  man,  or  Church,  treated  of  under  the  generic 
name  of  Adam. 

Again,  by  Gihon  is  literally  meant  a  stream  or  valley  of  grace ; 
but  it  spiritually  signifies  the  influence  of  divine  wisdom  upon 
the  understanding,  and  through  which  it  promotes  the  intellect- 
ual perception  of  heavenly  graces.  But  what  is  the  purpose  of 
this  influential  grace?  Certainly,  it  is  the  purification  and 
enlargement  of  human  thought.  It  is  when  a  stream  of  divine 
wisdom  descends  into  our  understanding  that  we  are  enabled  to 
think  with  clearness  and  perspicuity  upon  things  of  a  spiritual 
and  heavenly  nature.  In  this,  we  are  at  once  enabled  to 
perceive  that  truth  is  truth  and  good  is  good,  when  they  are 
presented  to  our  consideration  and  acceptance:  and  when  this 
is  effected,  Gihon  is  said  to  compass  the  whole  land  of  Cush,  § 

*  Exod.  xxviii.  f  Rev.  xxi.  19.  J  Ezek.  xxviii.  12,  13. 

I  Cush,  the  Hebrew.  Our  translation  has  it  Ethiopia,  because  the  Sep- 
tuagint  rendered  it  by  Al^tonia,  and  the  Vulgate  by  Ethiopia,  which  has  been 
followed  by  nearly  all  succeeding  versions.  But  there  is  no  satisfactory  evi- 
dence to  show,  and,  consequently,  some  reason  to  doubt,  whether  the  ancient 
Cush  is  really  the  Ethiopia  of  modern  times.  Great  disputes  exist  among 
Scripture  geographers  upon  this  subject.  Boehart  places  it  in  Arabia,  Geseuius 
in  Africa,  Michaelis  and  Rosenmuller  have  supposed  it  in  both  places. 
Others  have  sought  for  it  in  more  northerly  regions  of  Asia,  as  in  the  Persian 
provinces  of  Susiana,  in  Cuthah,  and  a  district  of  Babylonia.  Indeed,  this 
inquiry  is  interminable,  just  because  the  name,  in  those  ancient  writings,  is 
used  in  a  figurative  sense,  and  not  to  express  a  geographical  locality.  Etliio- 
pia,  so  far  as  it  expresses  the  idea  of  a  country  inhabited  by  the  sable  portion 


92  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

to  inform  us  that  it  includes  all  the  characteristics  of  the  under- 
standing, and  renders  it  fertile  in  thought  and  knowledge. 
The  land  of  Cush  is  here  mentioned,  to  signify  the  faculty  of 
understanding,  much  in  the  same  way  that  Zion  and  Canaan 
are  sometimes  referred  to  in  the  sense  of  holy  and  spiritual 
things.  This  faculty,  before  it*  comes  under  the  influence  of 
the  divine  wisdom,  is  dark;  and  Cush,  by  which  it  is  here  rep- 
resented, literally  signifies  what  is  black;  it  is,  therefore,  an 
appropriate  symbol  of  that  faculty,  requiring  to  be  surrounded 
with  a  stream  of  spiritual  light,  which  circumstance  is  de- 
scribed to  have  taken  place. 

But,  thirdly,  by  Hiddekel  is  literally  meant  a  sharp  voice, 
and  thus  it  becomes  an  apt  representative  of  that  stream  of 
divine  wisdom  which  illuminates  the  reason.  Reason,  con- 
sidered in  itself,  is  an  obscure  principle,  which  requires  to  be 
sharpened  by  the  voice  of  revelation  before  it  can  know  any- 
thing of  spiritual  things.  The  sages  of  Greece  and  Rome  never 
discovered  ]>y  it  any  of  the  genuine  truths  of  religion,  immortal- 
ity, or  heaven :  reason  attains  such  knowledges  only  so  far  as  it 
is  illustrated  by  revelation.  The  very  process  of  reasoning 
implies,  that  the  objects  we  would  discover  by  its  means  are 
not  self-evident  and  clear  to  the  more  inward  perceptions  of  the 
understanding.  Doubts  and  difficulties  stand  in  the  way  of 
everything  Avhich  is  to  be  reached  only  by  an  effort  of  reason- 
ing, and  even  when  it  has  done  its  utmost,  the  result  is,  not 
unfrequently,  far  from  being  either  satisfactory  or  convincing. 
What  one  man  pronounces  to  be  reasonable,  and  believes  to  be 
so,  is  by  another  denounced  as  a  tissue  of  mistakes.  This  is 
the  ground  on  which  have  arisen  such  varieties  of  religious  sen- 
timent and  faith.  Doubtless,  every  one  believes  his  views  on 
such  matters  to  be  reasonable;  that  they  have  been  set  forth 
and  defended  with  what  are  considered  to  l)e  reasonable  argu- 
ments; and  yet,  after  all,  it  is  evident,  horn  the  opposite 
conclusions  which  have  been  arrived  at,  that  reason  has  been 

of  our  race,  is  the  ai)propriate  rendering  of  the  Hebrew  word  Cush,  as 
denoting  Ijlackness,  and  on  this  account,  Etliiopia  is  afterwards  eniph)yed 
in  the  Scriptures  with  the  same  spiritual  signification.  Cush  is  the  same 
witli  Ethiopia  only  in  the  way  of  symbol  ;  they  cannot  be  shown  to  be  the 
same  geographical  locality. 


HIDDEKEL  AND  PHRAT,  WITH  THEIR  INFLUENCES.      93 

defective  somewhere.  This  brief  intimation  of  a  common  fact, 
which  may  be  easily  extended  by  the  thoughtful,  at  once  shows 
us  how  necessary  it  is  that  reason  should  be  illustrated  with 
revelation,  Avhich  is  one  of  the  streams  of  divine  wisdom:  we 
cannot  attain  the  knowledge  of  any  spiritual  things  without  it. 
Heaven,  with  the  internal  things  of  the  Church,  and  spiritual 
futurity,  are  from  that  service,  and  all  that  the  truly  rational 
mind  knows  about  them  is  derived  from  the  divine  wisdom 
affording  it  illustration.  The  stream  Hiddekel  is  said  "to  go 
towards  the  east  of  Assyria, ' '  to  denote  the  progression  of  divine 
wisdom,  in  the  way  of  enlightening  the  rational  mind.  The 
enlightening  is  the  east,  whence  all  illumination  comes;  and  the 
rational  mind  is  here  Assyria,  as  the  understanding  was  Cush, 
and  the  will  Havilah,  as  explained  above.  Ass3a-ia  derived  its 
name  from  Asshur,  the  son  of  Shem,  and  not  from  the  son  of 
Hezron;  and  the  word  properly  means  beholding,  which  circum- 
stance well  fitted  the  land  so  called,  to  be  employed  as  the  rep- 
resentative of  such  a  seeing  principle  as  that  of  the  rational  mind. 
It  is  on  account  of  this  signification  that  Assyria,  like  Israel  and 
Egypt,  is  sometimes  mentioned  in  the  Scriptures  without  any 
natural  application.  One  instance  will  be  sufficient  to  produce. 
The  prophet  says,  "  In  that  day  shall  Israel  be  the  third  with 
Egypt  and  with  Assyria,  a  blessing  in  the  midst  of  the  land: 
whom  the  Lord  of  hosts  shall  bless,  saying.  Blessed  be  Egyj)t 
my  people,  and  Assyria  the  work  of  my  hands,  and  Israel  mine 
inheritance."*  This  is  plainly  a  prediction  concerning  a  state 
of  the  Church,  in  which  its  natural  (Egypt),  rational  (Assyria), 
and  spiritual  (Israel),  principles  should  exist  in  their  proper 
order,  and  each  be  open  to  the  divine  blessing. 

The  fourth  river  was  Phrat,  which  literally  means,  to  make 
fruitful;  and  this  represents  the  influence  of  divine  wisdom  upon 
the  scientific  principle  of  the  mind,  so  as  to  render  it  prolific  in 
the  works  of  benevolence  and  use. 

The  knowledges  which  exist  in  the  natural  mind  are  merely 
of  an  external  and  scientific  kind.  The  natural  mind  is  scien- 
tific, and  adapted  for  scientific  things  merely.  By  these  are  not 
meant  philosophical  scientifics,  but  the  external  knowledge  of 
religious  things.  Thus  the  doctrinals  of  the  Church,  its  rituals, 
*  Isa.  xix.  24,  25. 


94  THE    WORD    AXD    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

and  their  modes  of  administration — indeed,  all  things  expressed 
in  the  letter  of  the  Word,  are  mere  scientitic  things,  adapted  to 
the  natural  mind;  and  as  such  they  will  remain,  until,  from 
some  more  interior  light,  man  begins  to  see  their  spiritual  origin 
and  use.  Most  professing  Christians  know  many  things  about 
the  literal  histories  in  the  Word.  They  know  something  of  the 
histories  of  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob;  also,  about  the  house 
of  Israel  in  Egyptian  bondage,  their  deliverance  thence,  and 
their  subsequent  establishment  in  Canaan;  likewise,  of  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  Judges,  the  rule  of  the  kings,  the  denunciations 
of  the  prophets,  and  many  other  facts  which  the  Word  contains. 
But  how  few  are  those  who  can  see,  from  any  spiritual  thought, 
that  all  these  things  are  but  external  scientifics!  Nevertheless 
they  include  within  them  celestial  and  spiritual  principles,  which 
prove  the  letter  to  be  divine.  This  is  a  desideratum  in  the 
Church.  We  may  believe  these  scientifics  to  be  divine,  because 
we  have  been  taught  that  they  are  so,  either  by  tradition  or 
authority:  but  it  is  important  we  should  see  their  truth  from 
some  interior  conviction  of  our  own;  yet  this  is  accomplished 
only  so  far  as  our  natural  mind  is  influenced  and  illuminated 
by  that  stream  of  divine  wisdom  denominated  Phrat.  This  may 
serve  to  show  the  meaning  of  that  river,  as  mentioned  in  con- 
nection with  the  most  ancient  Church. 

From  these  considerations  we  learn  that  the  river  of  Eden  de- 
noted the  divine  wisdom  proceeding  from  the  divine  love,  and 
that  its  division  into  four  heads,  upon  entering  the  garden, 
signified  their  different  influences  upon  the  celestial,  spiritual, 
.rational,  and  scientific  principles  of  holy  and  intelligent  men. 

That  nothing  natural  could  have  been  intended  by  those  de- 
scriptions must  be  evident  to  every  one  who  will  venture  to 
^think  above  a  common  prejudice.  Viewed  in -that  light,  they 
are  full  of  difficulties,  which  neither  ingenuity  nor  learning  can 
remove.  For  instance,  who  does  not  know  that  it  is  physically 
impossible  for  a  river  to  divide  itself  into  four  heads  or  sources 
of  rivers  ?  If  two  or  more  channels  be  presented  to  a  running 
stream,  it  will  not  divide  itself  distributively,  but  pour  its  whole 
mass  into  the  deepest  furrow — it  will  naturally  take  the  lowest 
level;  and,  moreover,  there  is  no  position  known  to  scientific 
geography  which    at    all   answers  to   the   Scripture   narrative. 


THE    STREAINIS    OP"    DIVINE    WISDOM.  95 

Those  that  are  sup])osed  to  come  nearest  to  the  description,  and 
wliich  indeed  are  very  distant,  necessarily  place  the  locality  of 
Eden  in  Armenia,  which  is  not  at  all  mentioned  in  the  Scripture. 
A  garden  into  which  one  river  ran,  and  which  was  then  to  be 
distributed  into  four  other  rivers,  necessarily  suggests  the  idea 
of  a  large  tract  of  country,  which  we  cannot  rationally  suppose 
the  Lord  would  have  required  to  have  been  "  dressed  and  kept  " 
by  an  individual  Adam.  We  conclude,  then,  that  these  things 
were  written,  not  to  point  out  a  geographical  locality,  but  to 
represent  the  streams  of  divine  wisdom  entering  into  the  minds 
of  a  wise  and  happy  people,  to  irrigate  their  mental  soil,  and 
render  it  prolific  in  all  that  is  good  and  estimable  in  the  Divine 
sight. 

By  the  divine  wisdom  of  which  we  have  been  speaking,  is 
meant  that  interior  dictate  which  we  believe  can  and  does  flow 
from  the  Lord  into  the  will  and  perceptions  of  highl}'  cultivated 
humanity.  This,  indeed,  was  the  state  of  the  most  ancient  peo- 
ple during  the  time  of  their  integrity.  They  thought  of  noth- 
ing but  what  they  loved,  so  that  their  intellectual  and  volun- 
tary principles  must  have  been  in  the  closest  connection,  and, 
as  it  were,  one  in  every  thought  and  act.  This  is  one  of  the 
reasons  why  that  people  were  called  Man,  a  dignity  which  does 
not  appear  to  have  been  attained  by  any  other  community  men- 
tioned in  the  Scriptures!  Some  remains  of  this  primeval  excel- 
lence seem  to  have  been  recognized  by  the  apostle,  who,  when 
speaking  of  the  Gentiles,  said,  they  "do  by  nature  the  things 
contained  in  the  law — which  show  the  work  of  the  law  written 
in  their  hearts,  their  conscience  also  bearing  witness.  "*  It  is 
also  declared  that  the  "Lord  would  jiut  his  law  in  the  inward 
parts  of  men,  and  write  it  upon  their  hearts;  so  that  he  will  be 
their  God,  and  they  shall  be  his  people,  "f  It  is,  therefore,  evi- 
dent that  there  can  })e  such  an  influx  of  intelligence  from  the 
Lord  as  is  mentioned  above.  The  means,  however,  to  be  ein- 
ployed  for  its  communication,  in  the  case  just  referred  to,  is  the 
written  Word.  But  such  a  medium  does  not  appear  to  have 
existed  among  the  Adamic  people,  nor  could  it  have  been  nec- 
essary, so  long  as  the}^  remained  in  love  to  God  above  all  things. 
The  law  and  the  prophets  were  given,  after  this  love  was  lost, 

*  Rum.  ii.  14,  IT).  f  Jer.  xx.xi.  33. 


96  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

with  the  view  of  assisting  in  its  restoration:  they  "hang  upon 
it."  *  In  such  a  state  the}'  would  receive  instruction,  in  the  way 
of  internal  dictate,  immediately  from  the  Lord.  This  would  be 
inscril)ed  upon  their  hearts,  and  thence  there  would  be  an  influx 
of  truth  into  their  spiritual  minds,  next  into  their  rational,  and, 
finally,  into  their  natural  minds;  consequently,  into  the  natural 
scientifics  which  there  existed:  this  would  enable  them  to  see 
the  absolute  distinction  between  spiritual  and  natural  things; 
also,  to  perceive  the  correspondence  which  subsisted  between 
them.  Hence  may  be  seen  what  is  meant  by  the  divine  wisdom 
spoken  of  above,  and  its  respective  inflowings  into  the  several 
orderly  principles  of  human  character  which  then  existed. 

With  such  a  people,  internal  and  heavenly  things  would  be 
perceived  in  purer  light  than  those  which  were  external  and 
worldly,  because  such  things  would  occupy  their  chief  attention. 
If  such  a  people  had  read  the  Word  which  we  possess,  the 
internal  sense  of  it  would,  doubtless,  have  been  presented  to 
their  minds  with  greater  clearness  than  the  letter,  because  their 
states,  as  it  were,  lay  entirely  upon  the  heavenly  side  of  this 
revelation.  In  after  times  this  condition  became  reversed. 
Man,  having  descended  from  that  elevation  into  external  and 
terrestrial  loves,  can  now  see  internal  and  spiritual  things  only 
in  obscurity  and  shadow;  hence  the  external  sense  of  the  Word 
appears  to  him  in  better  light  than  its  spiritual  meaning:  he 
having  passed  to  the  worldly  side  of  revelation.  This  side  of  it 
has  been  mercifully  provided  for  his  state,  and  designed,  by  its 
peculiar  construction,  to  raise  him  into  the  light  and  enjoyment 
of  the  other. 

*  Matt.  xxii.  37-40. 


CHAPTER  VIIL 
ADAM  NAMING  THE  LIVING  CREATURES. 

"Any  theory,  on  whatever  subject,  that  i3  really  sound,  can  never  be  inimical  to  a 
religion  founded  on  truth;  and  the  part  of  a  lover  of  truth  is  to  follow  her,  at  all 
seeming  hazards,  after  the  example  of  Him  who  came  into  the  world  that  he 
might  bear  witness  to  the  truth."— Richard  Whately,  D.D.,  Archbinhop  of 
Dublin. 

The  circumstance  of  naming  the  living  creatures  is  one  of 
religious  importance,  and  it  involves  matters  of  peculiar 
interest.  It  is  thus  related: — "Out  of  the  ground  the  Lord 
God  formed  every  beast  of  the  field,  and  every  fowl  of  the  aii-; 
and  brought  them  unto  Adam  to  see  what  he  would  call  them: 
and  whatsoever  Adam  called  every  living  creature,  that  was  the 
name  thereof."*  The  careful  reader  will  observe  it  is  here 
stated  that  "out  of  the  ground  the  Lord  God  formed  every  beast 
of  the  field,  and  every  fowl  of  the  air  " ;  but  if  he  will  turn  to 
the  20th  verse  of  the  first  chapter,  he  will  there  find  it  written, 
"And  God  said.  Let  the  waters  bring  forth  abundantly  the 
moving  creature  that  hath  life,  and  fowl  that  may  fly  above 
the  earth  in  the  open  firmament  of  heaven."  Thus,  in  the  one 
case  the  ground  is  said  to  have  been  their  source,  and,  in  the 
other,  the  waters.  Whence  arises  this  discrepancy  ?  It  may  be 
admitted  that  the  command  for  the  waters  "to  bring  forth  the 
moving  creature  that  hath  life,"  ought  to  be  understood  as 
referring  only  to  the  piscatory  tribes,  for  we  find  that  purely 
land  animals  are  spoken  of  as  having  been  created  on  the  fol- 
lowing day.  The  difficulty  more  particularly  adverted  to  is 
this,  that  in  the  first  statement  the  waters  are  distinctly  said  to 
have  brought  forth  every  winged  fowl,  whereas  in  the  second  it 
is  as  plainly  written,  that  ' '  out  of  the  ground  the  Lord  God 
formed  every  fowl  of  the  air. ' '  Now,  what  can  be  the  reason  of 
those  apparently  hostile  statements,  occurring,  as  they  do,  so 

*Gen.  ii.  19. 

9  97 


98  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

exceedingly  close  upon  each  other;  and  upon  what  principle  are 
they  to  be  reconciled  ?  There  is  plainly  a  disagreement  in  the 
letter,  which  requires  to  be  removed.  The  ' '  Fragmental  Hy- 
pothesis ' '  would,  perhaps,  attempt  it  by  supposing  that  they 
are  merely  the  records  of  two  different  traditions  of  the  same 
general  circumstances,  in  which  we  are  not  to  look  for  particular 
niceties  of  expression.  But  surely  this  cannot  be  satisfactory: 
under  such  a  view  of  the  case,  what  is  to  become  of  the  fact 
of  both  being  equally  a  revelation,  and  consequently  a  divine 
composition  ?  Some  higher  ground  than  the  literal  sense  must 
be  taken,  because  some  superior  truth  is  meant  to  be  expressed, 
and  we  have  mentioned  the  circumstance,  not  because  we 
think  it  a  difficult}^,  but  chiefly  to  draw  attention  to  the  truths 
intended  to  be  stated. 

It  Avas  observed  above,  that  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis  treated 
of  the  creation,  or  development,  of  the  spiritual  man,  and  all  the 
living  affections  and  thoughts  which  are  proper  to  his  condition; 
and  also  that  the  second  chapter  treated  of  the  celestial  man,  and 
all  the  living  affections  and  thoughts  which  are  proper  to  him.. 
Some  reasons  for  those  distinctions  were  likcAvise  given;  among 
others,  that  the  man  in  the  second  chapter  was  no  longer  spoken 
of  as  "earth."  but  as  "ground,"  and  that  the  name  of  the 
Supreme  Being  was  extended  from  "God"  to  "Lord  God." 
Thus  the  two  chapters  treat  of  two  different  states  which  dis- 
tinguished the  most  ancient  people.  To  both  of  those  states 
there  belonged  an  affection  for  the  intellectual  things  of  an  ex- 
alted religion,  but  they  took  their  rise  in  different  sources,  and 
therefore  their  origination  is  differently  described.  In  the  first 
case,  the  affection  for  intellectual  things  (which  are  the  winged 
fowls)  arose  out  of  the  general  knowledge  of  religion,  and  there- 
fore it  was  commanded  that  ' '  the  waters ' '  should  bring  them 
forth ;^  but  in  the  second  case  the  affections  for  intellectual 
things  (now  called  fowl  of  the  air)  sprang  out  of  the  prolifi- 
cations  of  love,  and  hence  they  are  described  to  have  been  made 
by  the  Lord  God  out  of  "the  ground." 

Every  one  must  know  that  differences  of  religious  character 
exist,  and  that  they  arise  from  different  sources.  It  would  not 
indicate  the  distinction  to  say  that  the  inferior  state  sprang  from 

*  See  preceding  page. 


A    DISCREPANCY    RECONCILED.  99 

the  same  source  as  the  superior;  to  describe  them  accurately  we 
must  emplo}'  distinctive  terms,  and  this  is  precisely  what  reve- 
lation has  done,  in  declaring  the  intellectual  things  of  the 
spiritual  man  to  have  been  created  by  God  out  of  the  loater,  and 
those  of  the  celestial  man  out  of  the  ground.  There  is,  then,  no 
actual  discrepancy  between  the  two  statements,  because  they  do 
not  relate  to  the  same,  but  to  different  circumstances. 

In  speaking  of  the  fifth  day's  creation,  it  was  observed  that 
the  olijects  of  animated  nature  were  chosen  and  frequently  em- 
ployed in  the  Word,  to  represent  the  living  affections  of  men; 
farther  evidences  of  that  fact  were  likewise  promised:  an  occa- 
sion is  here  presented  for  its  fulfilment. 

It  is  evident  that  some  idea  of  the  spiritual  representation  of 
animals  must  have  been  the  reason  why  they  were  so  extensively 
employed  in  the  sacrificial  worship,  which,  independently  of 
that  established  among  the  Jews,  was  spread  throughout  the 
continent  of  Asia.  This  also  must  have  been  the  source  whence 
the  Greeks  and  Romans  adopted  certain  animals  for  sacrifices 
during  some  of  their  public  festivities.  We  do  not  suppose  those 
people  to  have  attached  any  spiritual  notion  to  such  sacri- 
fices; what  we  mean  is  that  if  they  be  traced  up  to  the  sources 
whence  they  were  derived,  that  will  be  found  to  have  been  their 
origin.  Sacrifices,  considered  in  themselves,  are  most  irrational 
modes  of  worship,*  nor  could  they  have  been  adopted  until  men 
had  sunk  so  low  in  the  scale  of  religious  intelligence,  as  to  sup- 
pose that  the  offering  up  of  an  animal  to  the  Lord  was  the  same 
thing  as  the  dedication  of  that  principle  to  his  service,  which 
it  was  originally  understood  to  signify.  The  animal  was  mis- 
taken for  the  principle  which  it  represented,  and  the  dedication 
of  the  principle  to  sj^iritual  use  was  corrupted  into  a  natural 
sacrifice.  Their  origin  cannot  be  reasonably  accounted  for  upon 
any  other  ground.  This  also  explains  why  it  was  that  several 
animals  among  some  of  the  older  nations  became  objects  of  such 
peculiar  attention  and  respect.  This  circumstance  was  very 
remarkable  among  the  ancient  Egyptians.  Herodotus  says,  f 
"Both  those  which  are  wild  and  those  which  are  domestic  arc 
regarded  as  sacred.  If  I  were  to  explain  the  reason  of  this 
prejudice,  I  should  be  led  to  the  discussion  of  those  sacred  suli- 

*  See  Archbishop  Magee  on  the  Sacrifices  and  Atonement.        t  Euterpe,  Ixv. 


100  THE    W.ORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

jects  which  I  particularly  wish  to  avoid. ' '  •  Here  the  historian 
distinctl}'  connects  their  reverence  of  animals  with  some  esoteric 
and  religious  views;  and  although  he  does  not  inform  us  what 
these  were,  there  can  be  no  reasonable  doubt  that,  at  some 
period  of  Egyptian  history,  the  animals  had  been  understood  as 
the  representatives  of  certain  moral  qualities,  and  that  it  was 
not  until  after  a  succession  of  corruptions,  when  their  proper 
signification  was  lost,  that  veneration  began  to  be  attached  to 
them.  The  worship  of  certain  animals  was  a  perversion  of  the 
respect  once  paid  to  the  human  principles  of  which  they  were 
significant. 

It  is  iui})0ssiljle  to  read  with  care  those  portions  of  the  Scrip- 
tures in  which  beasts  and  animals  are  mentioned,  and  not  per- 
ceive that  they  have  a  symbolical  meaning;  they  are  spoken  of, 
both  generically  and  specifically,  under  circumstances  in  which 
it  is  evident  that  spiritual  things,  and  not  natural  existences, 
are  implied.  For  example,  the  prophet,  treating  of  the  peace- 
able character  of  the  Lord's  kingdom,  says,  "The  wolf  shall 
dwell  with  the  lamb,  and  the  leopard  shall  lie  down  with  the 
kid;  and  the  calf,  and  the  young  lion,  and  the  fatling  together; 
and  a  little  child  shall  lead  them.  And  the  cow  and  the  bear 
shall  feed;  their  young  ones  shall  lie  down  together:  and  the 
lion  shall  eat  straw  like  an  ox.  And  the  sucking  child  shall 
play  on  the  hole  of  the  asp,  and  the  weaned  child  shall  put  his 
hand  on  the  cockatrice'  den.  They  shall  not  hurt  nor  destroy  in 
all  my  holy  mountain."*  Here  we  have  no  less  than  fourteen 
different  animals,  besides  children,  referred  to,  every  one  of 
which  is  certainly  intended  to  represent  some  internal  affection. 
There  are,  however,  two  classes  of  them,  one  tame  and  harm- 
less, the  other  fierce  and  dangerous;  the  former  plainly  denote 
the  affections  which  are  good  and  innocent,  and  the  latter  those 
which  are  wicked  and  destructive;  and  by  their  all  dwelling 
together  must  be  meant  a  state  in  which  the  influences  of  the 
good  will  have  subdued  the  pernicious  tendencies  of  the  evil, 
and  kept  them  in  subjection  to  its  superior  sentiments.  It  is 
also  written  that  the  Lord  would  ' '  make  a  covenant  with  the 
beasts  of  the  field,  and  with  the  fowls  of  heaven,  "f  That  "  the 
beasts  of  the  field  would  cry  unto  Him  "  ;|  they  are  also  exhorted 

*  Isa.  xi.  6-9.  t  Hos.  ii.  18.  J  Joel  ii.  20. 


SIGNIFICATION    OF   ANIMALS.  101 

not  to  be  afraid;  ^=  in  which  passages,  by  beasts  cannot  be  meant 
beasts,  but  certain  human  affections,  which  they  are  meant  to 
represent.  These  are  the  things  with  which  the  Lord  effects 
his  covenants;  these  are  the  princij^les  which  can  cry  unto  Him, 
and  may  be  benefited  by  his  merciful  persuasions.  Ezekiel 
was  commanded  to  ' '  say  unto  every  feathered  fowl,  and  to  every 
beast  of  the  field,  Assemble  yourselv^es,  and  come:  gather  your- 
selves on  every  side  to  my  sacrifice  that  I  do  sacrifice  for  you, 
even  a  great  sacrifice  upon  the  mountains  of  Israel."!  Here, 
likewise,  it  is  evident  that  natural  lieasts  and  fowl  are  not 
meant,  but,  instead  thereof,  the  affections  of  religious  life,  and 
the  sentiments  of  religious  thought,  since  these  alone  can  attend 
the  invitations  to  a  religious  act.  So,  in  the  Psalms,  it  is  writ- 
ten, "Praise  the  Lord  from  the  earth,  ye  dragons,  and  all 
deeps:  beasts,  and  all  cattle;  creeping  things,  and  flying 
fowl."  I  It  is  plain  that  we  are  not  here  to  understand  the 
irrational  animals  which  are  mentioned,  but  certain  living  affec- 
tions and  thoughts  of  men,  to  which  they  correspond;  for  every 
one  must  have  observed  that  there  is  a  consj^icuous  analogy 
between  the  natural  qualities  of  some  animals  and  some  of  the 
moral  sentiments  of  the  human  character.  § 

Evidences  of  this  kind  could  be  extended  to  a  considerable 
length,  but  these  are  sufficient;  they  suggest,  somcAvhat  impres- 
sively, that  to  maintain  the  statement  that  ' '  Adam  gave  names 
to  all  cattle,  and  to  the  fowl  of  the  air,  and  every  beast  of  the 
field, "II  in  a  literal  sense,  is  to  mistake  its  meaning.  There  are 
certain  facts  and  considerations  in  relation  to  such  an  idea, 
which  are  exceedingly  embarrassing  to  those  w^ho  will  hazard 
an  independent  reflection  upon  the  sul^ject;  and  we  conceive 
the  real  meaning  of  the  apparent  history  is  to  be  sought  for  in 
its  spiritual  sense.  If  we  look  upon  the  statement  of  Adam 
naming  the  creatures  to  signify  the  high  character  of  that  ancient 
people,  impressing  a  peculiar  quality  upon  those  internal  affec- 
tions and  sentiments,  to  w'hich  the  objects  of  animated  nature 

*  Joel  ii.  22.  t  Ezek.  xxxix.  17.  J  Psa.  cxlviii.  7-10. 

I  Clement  of  Alexandria  quotes  verses  from  Xenophanes,  the  Coloplio- 
neau,  which  state  that  every  species  of  animal  supplies  metaphor  to  aid  the 
imagination  in  its  ideas  of  superior  things. 

II  Gen.  ii.  20. 


102  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

correspond,  we  have  at  once  presented  to  us  both  an  intelligible 
and  a  religious  idea;  and  this  can  hardly  be  said  of  the  notion 
which  contemplates  him  as  a  zoologist. 

It  is  said  that  ail  cattle  and  fowls,  and  every  beast,  were  named 
by  Adam.  If  the  merely  literal  sense  be  insisted  on  to  be  the 
true  and  only  design  of  this  statement,  then  we  are,  at  the  very 
outset,  compelled  by  science  to  curtail  the  signification  of  words 
which  are  employed  with  an  unlimited  meaning.  For  it  is 
plain,  from  the  discoveries  which  geology  has  made,  that  there 
were  whole  classes  of  animals  which  had  existed  at  immense 
intervals  of  time,  and  had  successively  become  extinct,  long 
before  there  were  any  traces  of  humanity  discernible.  It  is, 
therefore,  demonstrable  that  Adam  could  not  have  named  all 
and  every  creature.  To  this  it  may  be  replied  that  we  ought 
not  to  interpret  all  and  every  beast  to  mean  any  more  than  those 
which  were  contemporary  with  him;  but,  if  so,  at  what  point 
are  we  to  stop  in  putting  a  limited  meaning  on  terms  of  unlim- 
ited signification  ?  Such  a  view,  if  pressed  with  difficulties,  may 
refuse  to  admit  their  application  to  all  the  animals  then  extant, 
and  successively  shrink  them  up  to  mean  only  those  that 
were  in  Palestine,  or  Eden,  or  perhaps  the  garden  only.  It 
may  be  said  that  we  should  receive  those  documents  as  popular 
statements,  and  not  expect  to  find  them  couched  in  language 
technically  correct.  To  this  we  wish  only  to  observe,  that  we 
do  not  Ijelieve  them  to  have  been  loosely  written,  as  the  word 
popular  would  seem  to  imply;  we  regard  the  language  of  reve- 
lation to  have  been  chosen  witli  a  care  and  deliberation,  over  the 
preservation  of  which  the  Divine  Providence  has  been  peculiarly 
watchful. 

If  we  take  a  religious  view  of  the  intentions  of  God's  Word, 
we  must  be  led  to  see  that  this  narrative,  concerning  the  naming 
of  the  creatures,  was  intended  for  some  spiritual  instruction, 
altogether  apart  from  the  statement  of  the  letter.  For  surely  it 
is  difficult  to  see  what  religious  act  could  be  involved  in  calling 
a  lion,  a  lion;  a  bear,  a  bear;  a  sheep,  a  sheep;  or  a  lamb,  a 
lamb:  nor  is  it  easy  to  perceive  how  such  an  employment  con- 
sisted with  a  religious  state  of  mind,  so  extensively  cultivated 
and  highly  developed  as  was  that  of  Adam.  If  we  suppose  it 
to  have  been  given  him  as  an  intellectual  exercise,  which  is 


ANIMALS    WHICH    ADAM    DID    NOT    NAME.  103 

among  the  higliest  grounds  that  can  be  pretended  fur  it,  still  we 
must  inquire  what  possible  relation  it  could  have  to  spiritual 
and  heavenly  uses.  To  give  a  name  to  a  thing  that  is  without 
one,  may  be  useful  to  distinguish  it,  and  thereby  to  provide  a 
verbal  means  for  suggesting  the  idea  of  it  to  the  mind;  but  it 
has  very  little  connection  with  uses  that  are  essentially  religious. 
This  is  evident  from  experience,  for  it  has  happened  that  in 
these  days  of  discovery  men  have  not  unfrequently  been  required 
to  give  names  to  extinct  species  of  animals  which  it  is  certain 
Adam  never  saw,  and  yet  in  giving  those  names  they  have 
neither  felt  nor  intended  more  than  is  included  in  the  common 
sentiment  attending  the  selection  of  an  appropriate  appellation. 

It  will  hardly  be  pretended  that  the  names,  whether  popular 
or  scientific,  of  the  animals  which  are  now  extant,  are  those 
which  were  pronounced  by  Adam.  There  is  not  the  least  evi- 
dence to  show  that  society  at  any  time,  or  among  any  people, 
adopted  his  supposed  zoological  vocabulary.  To  what  purpose, 
then,  was  it  given,  if  it  did  not  come  into  use  and  obtain  a 
currency  ?  According  to  the  common  view,  there  was  no  coeval 
society,  and  therefore  it  could  not  have  been  for  their  use  and 
information;  nor  is  there  the  slightest  intimation  of  his  having 
instructed  posterity  in  the  names,  which  a  mistaken  view  of  this 
narration  has  led  men  to  suppose,  he  gave  to  the  creatures. 

But  supposing  it  could  be  satisfactorily  proved  that  the 
Hebrew  names  of  the  various  beasts  mentioned  in  the  Scrip- 
ture were  really  those  which  had  been  given  to  them  by  Adam; 
and  supposing  that  we  conceded,  which  indeed  we  do,  that 
those  names  were  founded  on  a  knowledge  of  some  prominent 
feature  or  remarkable  characteristic  of  the  creatures  to  which 
they  are  applied,  then  we  should  possess  some  evidence  of  the 
man  having  been  distinguished  by  a  superior  genius  in  respect 
to  this  particular  department  of  nature.  But  why  in  this 
department  only  ?  If  the  circumstance  of  giving  names  to  all 
cattle,  fowl,  and  beasts  were  a  display  of  intellectual  eminence, 
why  was  it  not  also  exhibited  in  respect  to  the  fish  ?  If  all  the 
creatures  of  the  earth  could  have  been  collected  in  the  garden, 
with  the  view  of  receiving  their  names,  why  might  not  all  the 
fishes  of  the  sea  have  been  gathered  in  the  river  of  that  garden  for 
the  same  purpose?     What  was  possible  in  the  one  case  could  not 


104  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

have  been  impossible  in  the  other.  Why,  also,  were  the  objects 
of  vegetable  nature  omitted  to  be  named  ?  Surely  a  knowledge 
of  the  distinction  between  different  plants  and  trees  must  have 
been  a  subject  of  much  concern  to  Adam,  particularly  as  his 
attention  had  been  distinctly  drawn  to  the  subject  through  the 
naming  of  two  trees  by  the  Lord  himself:  also,  by  his  having 
been  commanded  to  dress  and  keep  the  garden,  and  told  that  he 
might  freely  eat  of  every  tree  but  one.  Certainly,  if  names  for 
any  objects  were  of  importance  to  distinguish  them,  they  must 
have  been  so  in  the  vegetable  department  of  nature.  But  to 
these  we  do  not  read  of  any  names  being  given  by  Adam.  If 
the  giving  of  names  to  animals  were  an  intellectual  exercise,  the 
giving  of  names  to  vegetables  could  not  have  been  otherwise. 
There  must  have  been  some  reason  for  this  omission,  and  what 
other  reason  can  Ije  offered  besides  this, — That  they  were  not  suited 
to  the  representative  purpose  of  the  narrative,  which  treats  of  a  higher 
state  of  interior  and  intellectual  life  than  the  fishes  or  the  objects  of 
the  vegetable  kingdom  were  adapted  to  represent  f 

We  see  that  the  whole  subject,  viewed  from  a  literal  aspect, 
is  full  of  difficulties, — difficulties  of  a  religious,  moral,  and 
scientific  nature, — difficulties  not  of  that  class  which  industry 
and  research  may  be  capable  of  removing,  but  of  a  character 
which  neither  learning  nor  ingenuity  can  surmount.  The 
source  of  them  is  that  erroneous  ground  of  interpretation,  which 
consists  in  mistaking  the  descriptions  of  a  figurative  narrative 
for  their  literal  sense. 

The  creatures,  agreeably  to  a  style  of  expression  which  pre- 
vailed among  the  ancients,  and  which  originated  in  a  perception 
of  the  correspondences  which  exist  between  natural  and  spiritual 
things,  are  significant  of  certain  classes  of  affection  and  thought 
which  distinguished  celestial  men.  Of  this,  some  examples  and 
expositions  have  been  given  from  the  prophetical  writings,  the 
style  of  which  took  its  rise  from  that  which  existed  with  a  more 
remote  and  superior  people. 

The  order  in  which  the  creatures  are  mentioned  is, — cattle, 
fowl,  and  beasts.  The  word  rendered  "cattle"  should  have 
been  beasts, — implying,  indeed,  those  of  a  peaceful  nature;  and 
that  which  is  translated  "beast"  should  have  been  loild  beasts, 
to  indicate  such  as  were  of  a  less  pacific  character.     These  crea- 


CATTLE,    BEASTS,    AND    WILD    BEASTS.  105 

tures  are  frequently  spoken  of  in  the  prophetical  A^'ord,  and 
they  are,  in  all  cases,  most  carefully  distinguished.  Now,  by 
beasts — the  tame,  the  peaceful,  the  pacific — are  represented  the 
good  affections  of  the  will  of  the  celestial  man;  by  the  fowls  of 
the  air  are  denoted  the  true  perceptions  of  the  understanding  of 
the  spiritual  man;  and  by  the  wild  beasts  are  signified  the  gen- 
eral affections  of  the  natural  man,  which,  from  their  greater 
remoteness  from  the  Lord  and  closer  adjacency  to  the  world, 
always  require  the  influence  of  superior  principles  to  preserve 
them  innocent  and  harmless.  These  particulars  could  be  proved 
by  numerous  citations  from  the  Word;  we,  however,  will  only 
adduce,  for  each,  one  confirmatory  instance. 

That  beasts  represented  the  good  affections  of  the  celestial 
man,  is  evident  from  its  being  said  that  "beasts  were  in  hea- 
ven," and  that  "  four  ftms^s  fell  down  and  worshipped  God, 
saying.  Amen;  Alleluia."*  These  circumstances  cannot  be 
predicated  of  natural  beasts,  but  only  of  the  good  affections  of 
celestial  men  which  they  represent. 

That  foivls  denote  the  true  perception  of  the  spiritual  man  is 
plain,  for  similar  reasons: — An  "  angel  cried  with  a  loud  voice, 
saying  to  all  the  fouds  that  fly  in  the  midst  of  heaven.  Come  and 
gather  yourselves  together  unto  the  supper  of  the  great  God."f 
This  invitation  was  not  delivered  to  irrational,  irresponsible 
birds,  but  to  the  intellectual  perceptions  of  the  spiritual  man  of 
which  they  are  significant.  That  by  the  wild  beasts  are  signified 
the  general  affections  of  the  natural  man,  which  are  preserved 
in  order  by  the  influence  of  superior  principles,  appears  from 
this  declaration; — "  The  wild  beasts  of  the  field  shall  honour 
me:  because  I  give  waters  in  the  wilderness,  and  rivers  in  the 
desert,  to  give  drink  to  my  people. "J  Wild  beasts  give  no 
honour  to  God  on  account  of  the  blessings  which  he  bestows 
upon  mankind;  but  they  are  said  to  do  so,  on  account  of  the 
representation  they  were  selected  to  sustain. 

Now  the  living  creatures  which  were  brought  to  Adam  were 

*  Rev.  xix.  4.     See,  also,  Rev.  vii.  11.  t  R<?v-  xix.  17. 

X  Isa.  xliii.  20.  This  passage,  in  the  Authorized  Version,  has  simply 
beasts ;  but  the  original  word  here,  and  in  several  other  places  where  it  is 
translated  beasts  only,  properly  means  icild  beasts,  as,  indeed,  the  context 
cninniniilv  shows. 


106  THE    WORD   AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

of  three  desc;ri])tions: — they  consisted  of  celestial  affections, 
spiritual  perceptions,  and  natural  delights;  and  the  Lord  is  said 
to  have  formed,  and  brought  them  unto  him,  to  reveal  that  he 
is  the  author  of  their  existence,  and  the  giver  of  them  to  men. 

They  were,  however,  brought  to  Adam  for  a  particular  pur- 
pose, — to  see  what  he  would  call  them ;  that  is,  to  observe  the 
quality  which  he,  in  the  exercise  of  his  freedom  and  responsi- 
bility, would  impress  upon  them.  To  call  by  a  name,  and  to 
give  a  name,  are  forms  of  expression  which  frequently  occur  in 
the  Scriptures,  but  they  do  not  always  mean  to  pronounce  a 
word;  their  design  is  to  indicate  a  quality.  Thus  the  angel  who 
wrestled  with  Jacob  said  unto  him,  ''  Thy  name  shall  be  called 
no  more  Jacob,  but  Israel.  "*  This  change  of  name  was  intended 
to  express  a  change  which  had  taken  place  in  the  quality  of  his 
character,  hence  it  is  immediately  added,  "  For  as  a  prince  thou 
hast  power  with  God  and  with  men,  and  hast  prevailed. ' '  So, 
again,  when  the  Lord  said  of  the  Church,  "  I  have  called  thee 
by  thy  name;  I  have  surnamed  thee,  though  thou  hast  not 
known  me,"f  the  meaning  is  that  a  new  quality  had  been 
imparted,  and  yet  its  advantages  had  not  been  appreciated. 
The  Lord  said  he  would  write  his  new  name  upon  him  Avho 
overcometh,J  to  show  that  a  new  quality  will  be  given  to  the 
spiritual  character  of  those  who  conquer  in  temptations.  Those 
"  whose  names  are  not  written  in  the  book  of  hfe  "§  are  plainly 
those  whose  internal  qualities  are  such  as  to  exclude  them  from 
the  heavenly  kingdom.  Hence  it  is  evident  that  to  give  a  name 
denotes  to  impress  a  quality  upon  the  object  of  which  it  is  pred- 
icated; and  this,  also,  is  its  meaning  in  the  case  of  Adam  nam- 
ing the  creatures. 

The  circumstance  will  admit  of  illustration  from  experience. 
It  frequently  liappens  that  some  good  affections  and  true  ideas 
are  suddenly  introduced  into  the  human  mind.  They  come 
under  circumstances  in  which  we  did  not  expect  them,  and  we 
are  enabled  to  perceive  their  excellence.  Doubtless,  these  spir- 
itual ])easts  and  fowl  are  of  divine  origination,  and  surely  they 
are  brought  to  us  by  infinite  wisdom  to  see  what  we  shall  call 
them;  that  is,  to  give  us  the  oppcn-tunity  of  receiving,  and 
impressing  upon  them,  such  a  quality  as  we,  in  the  exercise  of 

*  Gen.  xxxii.  28.         f  Isa.  xlv.  4.         J  Kev.  iii.  12.         ^  Rev.  xiii.  8. 


EEPilESENTATlVE    HISTORY.  107 

our  freedom,  may  choose  to  adopt,  and  wliich  quality,  when  so 
impressed,  remains  upon  them  so  far  as  our  own  individuality 
is  concerned;  a  circumstance  which  the  representative  history 
thus  expresses,  —  "Whatsoever  Adam  called  every  living  crea- 
ture, that  was  the  name  thereof. ' ' 

Such  we  conceive  to  be  the  meaning  of  the  narrative  of  Adam 
naming  the  living  creatures.  Under  this  view  it  is  brought 
home  to  the  business  and  bosoms  of  religious  men.  It  is  beau- 
tifully consistent  with  the  Word  of  God,  and  eminently  i)racti- 
cal.  The  experience  of  men  presents  a  counterpart  of  it,  and  so 
a  rational  interpretation. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

ITS  NOT  BEING  GOOD  THAT  ADAM  SHOULD  BE  ALONE.— HIS 
DEEP  SLEEP.— THE  TAKING  OF  A  RIB  FROM  HIM,  AND 
BUILDING  IT  INTO  A  WOMAN. 

"  It  requires  but  little  attention  in  any  one  to  discern  that  woman  was  not  formed 
out  of  the  rib  of  a  man;  and  that  deeper  arcana  are  here  implied." — Sweden- 
BORG.     Arcana   Ccelestia,  n.  152. 

It  is  written,  that  "the  Lord  God  said,  It  is  not  good  that 
man  should  be  alone;  I  will  make  him  an  help  meet  for  him. — 
And  the  Lord  God  caused  a  deep  sleep  to  fall  upon  Adam,  and 
he  slept:  and  he  took  one  of  his  ribs,  and  closed  up  the  flesh  in- 
stead thereof;  and  the  rib,  which  the  Lord  God  had  taken  from 
the  man,  builded  he  a  woman,  and  brought  her  unto  the  man. 
And  Adam  said.  This  is  now  bone  of  ni}-  bones,  and  flesh  of  my 
flesh:  she  shall  be  called  Woman,  because  she  was  taken  out  of 
man."* 

These  statements  are  remarkable,  not  only  on  account  of  their 
apparent  singularity,  but  for  other  reasons,  when  considered  as 
a  literal  history.  In  tliat  point  of  view  there  are  several  diffi- 
culties, which  could  hardly  have  existed  if  the  narrative  had  not' 
been  constructed  with  some  more  recondite  design  than  appears 
upon  the  surface. 

As  already  remarked,  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis  informs  us 
that  the  female  was  created  upon  the  sixth  day,  and  at  the  con- 
clusion of  that  day's  work  it  is  said,  that  "God  saw  everything 
that  he  had  made,  and,  behold,  it  was  very  good."  But  in  the 
second  chapter  we  find,  that  after  the  sei-enth  day,  when  Adam 
had  been  placed  in  the  garden,  it  was  discovered  ' '  not  to  be 
good  that  he  should  be  alone,"  and  that  this  circumstance 
originated  the  woman. 

For  the  solution  of  these  discrepancies,  it  is  requisite  to  admit 
that  the  two  chapters  treat  of  two  different  conditions  of  the  man 

*  Geii.  ii.  18,  21-23. 
108 


THE   GERM    OF   THE   FALL.  109 

of  the  Church  in  these  early  times.  Of  this  we  have  already 
spoken.  Thef-e  different  descriptions  have  led  to  curious  results. 
Some  have  considered  what  is  said  of  the  creation  of  man — 
namely,  "male  and  female  created  he  them" — to  mean  that 
Adam  was  originally  distinguished  by  both  sexes;  and  this  was 
thought  to  derive  confirmation  from  the  peculiar  circumstance 
of  Eve's  creation,  afterwards  related.  Others  have  conjectured 
that  man  anc'^  woman  were,  indeed,  created  upon  the  sixth  day, 
but  by  some  means  fastened,  something  like  the  Siamese  twins, 
sideways  to  each  other,  so  that  she  was  as  a  rib  to  him;  and 
that  her  separation  from  him  during  a  deep  sleep,  with  her  sub- 
sequent presentation  to  him  as  a  separate  individual,  are  what 
are  mean^.  by  taking  from  him  a  rib,  and  making  it  into  a 
woman.*  All  this  is  curious  enough,  and,  doubtless,  the  literal 
sense  wJl).  admit  of  these  and  other  equally  unreasonable  con- 
jecturea,  and  this,  surely,  is  sufficient  to  suggest  the  duty  of 
taking  other  grounds  from  which  to  view  these  narratives. 

It  irt,  indeed,  popular  to  consider  the  history  as  "wise,  be- 
nign, and  simple ' ' ;  and  with  a  view  to  the  maintenance  of  its 
litevAl  character,  it  is  asked  whether  the  "imagination  can  frame 
a  mode  of  origin  so  well  adapted  to  endear  her  to  her  conjugate, 
5,i  that  the  creative  power  should  form  her  out  of  his  actual 
•jodily  substance. ' '  f  We  could  have  understood  this  argument, 
'whatever  we  might  have  thought  of  its  force,  had  it  been  em- 
ployed in  reference  to  the  first  child,  but  what  it  has  to  do  with 
the  first  conjugate  it  is  difficult  to  conjecture.  Such  a  method 
of  defending  the  history  suggests  the  idea  of  Adam  being  the 
mother  of  Eve  rather  than  her  husband!  If  this  mode  of 
origination  were  really  intended  to  supply  the  motive  for  endear- 
ment, which  is  assumed,  what  has  become  of  it?  When  was  it 
lost  ?  Why  has  it  not  been  perpetuated  ?  How  has  it  hap- 
pened that  such  myriads  of  attachments  are  formed  and  con- 
tinued, irrespective  of  such  a  motive  to  their  existence  ?  It  is 
gone,  and  whenever  the  statement  is  adverted  to,  there  is  felt  more 
of  the  buoyancy  of  a  smile  than  the  solemnity  of  belief.  The  sup- 
posed argument  has  no  foundation  in  truth.  The  question, 
however,  is  not  whether  the  imagination  can  form  a  more  suit- 

*  Cniden,  Art.  Woman. 

t  Dr.  Pye  Smith,  Scrip.  Geo.,  Second  Edit.,  p.  285. 


110  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

able  idea  of  the  origination  of  woman,  but  whether  that  which 
is  commonly  understood  to  be  the  description  of  it  is  really  so. 
We  may  fail  in  a  conjecture  of  this  sort,  but  that  would  not 
prove  the  literal  sense  of  such  a  description  true,  and  therefore 
the  narrative  remains  just  where  it  was.  It  must  be  judged  of 
from  other  grounds. 

We  have  traced  the  rise  and  progress  of  the  Adamic  Church 
into  the  full  enjoyment  of  Eden  with  all  its  blessings.  We  have 
seen  that  that  garden  and  those  blessings  consisted  in  the  relig- 
ious intelligence,  high  principles,  sound  virtue,  and  distin- 
guished character  of  that  people.  We  have  ascertained  that 
they  received  instructions  in  duty  from  their  Maker,  and  there 
can  be  no  reasonable  doubt  that  these  Avere  for  a  time  carefully 
and  happily  obeyed.  How  long  the  people  continued  in  their 
integrity  there  is  no  record.  We  are  only  informed  of  the  fact, 
and  not  of  its  duration.  It  is  highly  probable  that  it  might 
have  been  maintained  for  several  generations;  but  this  is  a 
matter  with  which  we  have  not  to  deal:  we  find  that  in  process 
of  time,  while  they  were  yet  in  the  garden,  the  discovery  was 
made  that  it  was  not  good  for  the  man  to  be  alone. 

Now,  we  hold  that  this  cannot  be  reasonably  construed  to 
mean  that  he  was  the  only  existing  human  individual.  If  the 
literal  sense  must  be  received  as  evidence,  the  male  and  female 
are  of  the  same  age,  and  Adam  is  their  generic  name.*  The 
woman  is  distinctly  declared  to  have  been  created  in  the  same 
day  as  the  man,t  nor  is  there  anything  in  the  statement  to  pre- 
clude the  idea  that  it  was  at  the  same  moment.  Moreover,  a 
command  was  given  to  them  to  ' '  be  fruitful  and  multiply,  and 
replenish  the  earth, "|  before  they  were  placed  in  the  garden;  it  is 
therefore  plain  that  Adam  could  not  have  been  there  alone,  in 
the  sense  commonly  understood  by  that  term.  Besides,  the 
woman  knew  the  command  of  God  concerning  the  forbidden 
tree;§  there  is  no  intimation  of  Adam  having  communicated  it 
to  her,  and  therefore  it  is  to  be  inferred  that  she  was  present  at 
its  delivery,  which  was  before  the  time  he  is  stated  to  have  been 
alone :  and  which  therefore  requires  that  this  expression  should 
not  be  understood  to  mean  that  there  was  no  woman  then  in 
existence.     That  statement  is  intended  to  furnish  us  with  infor- 

*  Gen.  V.  2.  f  Gen.  i.  27.  |  Gen.  i.  28.  2  Gen.  iii.  2,  3. 


MAN    BEING    ALONE.  Ill 

mation  relating  to  some  new  internal  condition  of  the  most 
ancient  Church.  It  is  an  intimation  concerning  their  decline 
from  innocence  and  purity;  in  the  record,  that  a  j)eriod  had 
arrived  in  that  remote  dispensation,  when  it  was  not  good  for 
man  to  be  alone,  we  have  presented  to  us  the  germ  of  that 
catastrophe  called  the  Fall.  That  circumstance  was  not  a 
sudden  calamity,  it  was  the  result  of  successive  downward 
steps.  Those  who  had  been  gradually  raised  into  the  posses- 
sion of  every  blessing,  and  so  gifted  with  experimental  evidences 
of  their  value,  would  not  be  instantaneously  precipitated  into 
flagrant  guilt:  that  catastrophe  was  small  in  its  beginning,  and 
therefore  it  is  delicately  spoken  of  as  not  being  good  to  be  alone. 
It  is  expressive  of  an  incipient  disinclination  to  remain  under 
the  exclusive  guidance  of  God.  That  is  what  the  Scriptures 
treat  of  when  they  speak  of  man  being  alone.  Those  who 
submit  themselves  wholly  to  the  divine  guidance  are  said  to  be  , 
alone,  because  they  are  governed  solely  by  the  Lord.  Hence 
Balaam's  prediction  concerning  some  future  liappy  state  of 
Israel  was,  ' '  Lo,  the  people  shall  dwell  alone. ' '  *  INIoses,  also, 
in  speaking  of  a  similar  circumstance,  said,  "  Israel  shall  dwell 
in  safety  alone,  "f  The  prophet  likewise  said,  "Arise,  get  you 
up  unto  the  wealthy  nation,  that  dwelleth  without  care,  saith 
the  Lord,  which  have  neither  gates  nor  bars,  which  dwell 
alone.  ":|:  Now,  the  Adamic  people,  during  the  period  of  their 
integrity,  had  dwelt  in  "  safety  alone."  They  had  l^een  led  and . 
influenced  solely  by  the  Lord:  but  with  some  of  their  posterity 
there  arose  an  inclination  to  selfhood, — a  desire  to  possess  an 
individuality  apart  from  the  Lord.  This  was  necessarily 
attended  by  the  experience  of  influences  from  two  different 
sources, — those  which  come  from  the  Lord  and  those  which 
spring  from  the  selfhood  of  man:  and  so  they  clearly  prove  that 
a  cessation  had  been  put  to  the  single  leading  of  the  Lord.  This 
was  the  state  which  he  beheld,  and  said  of  it,  "  It  is  not  good 
that  man  should  be  alone."  It  is  not  a  sentence  expressing 
deficiency  in  God's  creation,  but  a  revelation  to  us  that  men 
had  then  begun  to  pervert  its  excellence.  They  desired  to  be 
not  alone,  and  it  was  permitted;  because,  to  have  prevented 
it  would  have   recjuired   an   interference  with   that  liberty  of 

*Numb.  xxiii.  9.  f  Deut.  xxxiii.  28.  J  Jer.  xlix.  31. 


112  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

man  Avhich  God  holds  inviolable,  in  order  to  preserve  him 
responsible. 

But  although  for  this  reason  God  allowed  them  to  descend 
into  such  a  state,  he  did  not  abandon  them.  He  is  ever  merci- 
ful, and  always  grants  what  the  state  requires.  Hence,  when 
Adam  ceased  to  be  content  under  His  exclusive  influence,  he 
said,  "  I  will  make  an  help  meet  for  him,"  which  is  afterwards 
described  to  have  been  ' '  a  woman  ' ' ;  because  she  represented 
the  selfhood  to  Avhich  he  had  inclined,  and  which  had  now 
become  dear  to  him. 

This  selfhood  may  be  described  as  that  individuality,  or 
proper-self,*  which  man  as  a  finite  creature  necessarily  pos- 
sesses. It  belongs  to  his  highest  nature,  and  is  inseparable  from 
every  other  condition  of  his  existence;  it  will  be  good  or  evil, 
according  to  the  quality  of  his  character.  By  the  most  ancient 
people,  during  the  period  of  their  integrity,  it  was  inherited  as 
a  genuine  good:  but  it  was  not  intended  that  they  should  love 
it;  this,  however,  they  began  to  do,  when  they  were  not  con- 
tent to  be  alone.  This  new  circumstance  of  man  brought  into 
activity  new  mercies  on  the  part  of  the  Lord.  As  the  selfhood 
of  the  man  at  this  time  was  of  such  a  quality,  it  was  not  only 
permitted  him  to  love  it,  but  it  was  afterwards  provided  that  it 
should  be  orderly  for  him  to  do  so.  The  statement,  "  I  will 
make  an  help  meet  for  him,"  f  was  a  promise  to  render  the 
selfhood  a  resemblance  of  all  his  other  excellencies,  so  that  it 
might  be  proper  for  his  attachment.  Hence  this  suitable  help 
was  subsequently  represented  by'a  woman. 

It  is  to  be  observed,  that  between  the  time  of  this  promise 
and  the  period  of  its  fulfilment  there  are  related  three  remark- 
able circumstances, — the  naming  of  the  creatures,  the  sleep  of 
Adam,  and  the  taking  from  him  the  rib  and  building  it  into  a 
woman.  The  creatures  were  brought  to  Adam  to  be  named, 
when  he  began  to  incline  towards  himself,  that  he  might  review 

*  The  Latin  word  jjrojn-iiim,  or  the  French  le  jji-opre,  hut  especially  the 
former,  best  expresses  the  idea  here  intended  to  be  conveyed.  The  above 
definition  is  adopted,  that  the  general  reader  may  not  be  embarrassed  by  the 
use  of  a  word  not  yet  Anglicized. 

t  The  original,  ezer  kcnegdo,  strictly  means  a  help  as  with  him  ;  and  this, 
with  the  context,  implies  a  new  assistance  from  within  him. 


THE    HELPMEET    FOR    ADAM.  113 

the  quality  of  all  his  interior  affections  and  thoughts,  and  so  re- 
member their  origin  and  value.  They  were  all  pure  graces  com- 
municated from  the  Lord,  and,  therefore,  the  man  could  not 
find  among  them  that  which  is  spoken  of  as  the  help  meet  for 
him.  Nothing  of  the  selfhood  was  discoverable;  his  inclination 
led  him  to  look  for  it  among  them,  but  it  was  not  found.  This 
circumstance  beautifully  reveals  to  us,  that  all  the  virtues  and 
graces  of  a  genuine  religion  acknowledge  God  to  be  their  ex- 
clusive author,  and  eschew  everything  of  man. 

But  the  disposition  not  to  be  alone,  and  the  inclination  to  con- 
sider that  self  had  something  to  do  with  the  production  of  the 
above  excellencies,  had  made  some  inroad  upon  men's  charac- 
ter; hence  the  result,  in  process  of  time,  was  that  they  were  led 
into  great  obscurity  and  darkness  of  thought  concerning  them. 
This  state  was  represented  by  the  deep  sleep  that  fell  upon 
Adam.  Now  the  time  had  come  for  the  Lord  to  realize  his 
promise.  The  manner  of  it  is  thus  described: — "  The  Lord  God 
took  one  of  his  ribs,  and  closed  up  the  flesh  instead  thereof;  and 
the  rib,  which  the  Lord  God  had  taken  from  the  man,  builded 
he  into  a  woman,  and  brought  her  unto  the  man."*  Now,  if 
we  remember  that  it  is  the  religious,  and  not  the  physical,  con- 
dition of  the  man  which  is  here  treated  of,  the  difficulty  in 
perceiving  the  true  meaning  of  these  statements  will  be  consid- 
erably lessened.  The  leading  ideas  so  expressed  are,  that  some- 
thing was  taken  from  the  man,  raised  into  a  new  condition, 
gifted  with  new  life,  and  then  presented  to  him  as  an  object 
that  might  help  him,  and  to  which  he  might  be  affectionately 
attached. 

That  which  was  taken  from  him  is  called  a  rib,  because  it  rep- 
resented selfhood  without  spiritual  life;  this  is  said  to  have  been 
built  into  a  woman,  to  denote  that  it  was  afterwards  raised  into 
the  condition  of  such  a  life;  it  is  then  declared  that  she  was 
brought  unto  the  man,  to  signify  that  the  selfhood  thus  vivified 

*  Gen.  ii.  21,  22.  The  common  version  is,  "made  he  a  woman,"  but 
"built  into  a  woman"  is  the  more  correct  rendering  of  the  original,  and,  in- 
deed, recognized  in  the  marginal  reading.  It  is  used  in  contradistinction 
to  the  terms  creating  and  making,  previously  employed  in  reference  to  the 
development  of  man,  in  order  to  indicate  the  idea  of  raising  up  something 
that  had  fallen. 
10 


114  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

and  introduced  to  his  affections  would  help  to  sustain  his  char- 
acter and  maintain  his  happiness.  In  other  words,  this  signifi- 
cant history  means,  that  when  this  posterity  of  the  most  ancient 
Church  began  to  think  holy  things  might  have  arisen  with 
themselves,  and  thus  fell  into  states  of  obscurity  (deep  sleep) 
about  their  genuine  origin,  the  Lord,  during  its  continuance, 
mercifully  effected  the  removal  of  that  unspiritual  selfhood 
(rib),  and  endowed  it  with  a  new  capacity,  by  which  it  was 
enabled  to  know  truth,  and  do  good,  as  from  self,  still  ahva3'S 
preserving  the  acknowledgment  and  belief  that  they  are  from 
the  Lord:  under  this  aspect,  selfhood  became  an  object  that 
might  be  loved  and  cherished;  and,  therefore,  it  is  represented 
by  the  woman  brought  unto  the  man;  whereas,  under  its  con- 
dition as  a  rib,  it  was  separated  and  taken  from  him.* 

These  facts  will  admit  of  some  degree  of  illustration  from  the 
state  of  human  selfhood  now.  This,  with  merely  natural  men, 
is  such,  that  they  regard  it  to  be  the  chief  thing  of  their  exist- 
ence, f  They  think  that  all  they  know  of  truth  or  feel  of  good- 
ness has  come  from  self,  and  thus  they  are  in  a  deep  sleep  as 
to  the  real  truth,  that  all  such  blessings  descend  from  the  Lord. 
This  selfhood,  like  the  hard  and  bony  structure  of  man,  is 
scarcely  possessed  of  any  spiritual  life;  it,  as  it  were,  surrounds 
his  heart,  and  so  it  is  represented  by  the  rib  which  is  adjacent. 
Before  his  elevation  can  be  effected,  this  rib  must  be  taken  away. 
It  must  be  raised  into  a  new  condition,  and  be  animated  by  an- 
other life;  it  must  come  to  see  that  truth  and  goodness  are  to  be 
believed  and  done  by  man  as  of  himself,  yet  always  under  the 
acknowledgment  that  they  are  from  the  Lord.  When  this  takes 
place,  it  is  soft  and  yielding,  fair  and  lovable,  and  hence  com- 
pared to  a  woman  beautiful  and  innocent. 

That  hone,  which  the  rib  is  afterwards  called,  denotes  the  self- 
hood of  man,  may  be  made  evident  from  many  passages  of  the 

*  "Tliis  part  of  the  history,  where  Eve  is  said  to  have  been  made  from 
the  rib  of  Adam,  might  have  been  a  hieroglyphical  design  of  the  Egyptian 
philosophers."— Z)?-.  Danvi7i^s  "  Temple  of  Nafitre,'^  Addiiional  Notes,  10. 

t  Rochefoucanlt,  Esprit,  and  their  disciple,  Mandeville,  have  contended 
that  self-love  was  the  origin  of  all  those  virtues  mankind  most  admire:  and 
teach  that  the  highest  pretensions  to  disinterestedness  are  only  the  more  art- 
ful disguises  of  self-love  ! 


SELFHOOD  UNDER  THE  SYMBOL  OF  A  RIB.         115 

Scriptures.  The  Psalmist  says,  "Make  me  to  hear  joy  and 
gladness,  that  the  bones  which  thou  hast  broken  may  rejoice";* 
where  the  bones  which  are  broken  denote  the  selfhood  humili- 
ated, when  spiritual  happiness  may  be  obtained.  It  is  to  be 
observed,  that  the  breaking  of  the  bones  is  here  somewhat  anal- 
ogous to  the  removal  of  the  rib — that  separation  implying  the 
idea  of  a  breaking — a  breaking,  however,  only  in  the  sense  of 
humiliation  and  dejection,  with  a  view  to  subsequent  exaltation. 
Again,  it  is  written,  "Heal  me,  0  Lord,  for  my  bones  are 
vexed  ";t  "  all  my  bones  are  out  of  joint  ";'j;  "  my  bones  are 
consumed  "  ;§  ' '  neither  is  there  any  rest  in  my  l)ones  "  ;||  all  of 
which  sentences  imply  states  of  anxiety  and  trial  which  the  self- 
hood was  undergoing.  But  when  this  selfhood  is  made  somewhat 
alive  by  an  infusion  of  the  Divine  Spirit,  it  is  said,  "All  my 
bones  shall  say,  Lord,  who  is  like  unto  thee  ?"^  and,  for  a  sim- 
ilar reason,  it  is  promised  that ' '  your  bones  shall  flourish  like  an 
herb.  "**  Passages  of  this  nature  could  be  extensively  increased; 
they  not  only  show  that  the  term  bones  was  employed  by  the 
ancients  in  a  figurative  sense,  but  they  also  show  that  figure  to 
be  the  selfhood  of  man,  from  the  intelligibility  which  the  sen- 
tences acquire  on  the  application  of  that  idea  to  the  word. 

The  vivified  bones,  spoken  of  in  the  two  passages  last  adduced, 
are  not  called  tvoman,  as  in  the  case  of  the  animation  given  to 
Adam's  rib,  because  the  quality  of  both  the  selfhood  and  vivifi- 
cation  treated  of  is  of  a  different  nature:  they  relate  to  what  is 
spiritual;  that  of  Adam's  to  what  is  celestial.  Nevertheless, 
the  prophetical  Word  does  furnish  some  approximation  even  to 
that  idea.  Ezekiel,  relating  his  vision  of  the  valley  of  bones, 
teaches  that  the  bones  heard  the  word  of  the  Lord,  received  his 
breath,  and  became  alive,  and  thereupon  they  are  declared  to  be 
the  whole  house  of  Israel,  ff  Thus,  bones  are  distinctly  said  to 
have  been  raised  into  a  whole  people,  consequently  some  of  them 
into  women.  Of  course,  this  inference  from  the  vision,  like  the 
vision  itself,  will  not  be  understood  in  a  natural  sense;  the 
vision  was  designed  to  represent  the  impartation  of  a  new  prin- 

*  Psa.  li.  8.         t  Psa.  vi.  2.  t  Psa.  xxii.  14.         ?  Psa.  xxxi.  10. 

II  Psa.  xxxviii.  3.  ^  Psa.  xxxv.  10.  **  Isa.  Ixvi.  14. 

tt  Ezek.  XXX vii.  4,  5,  11. 


116  THE   WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

ciple  and  character  to  the  selfhood  of  a  degenerated  people. 
Viewed  under  that  aspect,  it  is  somewhat  parallel  to  the  narra- 
tive of  Moses:  he  is  treating  of  a  peojile  who  were  not  content 
to  be  alone,  and  upon  whom  a  deep  sleep  had  fallen;  and,  there- 
fore, it  was  mercifully  provided  to  remove  the  selfhood  which 
had  attended  tins  condition,  to  infuse  into  man  a  new  life,  and 
give  it  a  new  form,  which  is  described  as  taking  a  rib  from  the 
man  and  building  it  into  a  woman.  This  is  perfectly  consistent 
with  the  circumstance  of  Adam's  stating  that  it  was  bone  of  his 
bone;  it  was  a  new  selfhood  in  the  external  man,  raised  out  of 
that  which  the  internal  man  had  furnished  as  the  basis.  Hence 
it  is  said  to  have  been  taken  out  of  man,  and  then  called  woman. 
In  consequence  of  the  change  of  state  that  was  now  induced 
upon  this  posterity  of  the  Adamic  Church,  it  was  permitted 
them  to  recede  from  internal  things,  and  attach  themselves  to 
what  were  pure  and  good  in  things  external.  This  is  what  is 
meant  by  man  "leaving  father  and  mother  and  cleaving  to  his 
wife. ' '  The  father  and  mother  who  might  be  left,  were  those 
internal  things  from  which  they  had  receded;  and  the  wife 
that  might  be  cleaved  to,  Avas  the  selfhood  to  which  celestial  and 
spiritual  influences  were  now  adjoined.  It  is  then  said  that 
they  "were  both  naked  and  not  ashamed,  to  teach  that  the  tvis- 
dom,  which  constituted  the  man,  and  the  selfhood,  represented 
by  the  woman,  Avere  still  in  innocence  and  free  from  guilt. 
Thus  it  is  a  figurative  and  not  a  literal  history :  it  proceeded 
from  a  peculiarity  of  intellectual  genius,  some  remains  of  Avhich 
are  traceable  in  the  mythology  of  after  times,  and  in  which 
there  are  some  apparent  histories  of  a  similar  kind.  For 
instance,  Venus  is  said  to  have  risen  from  the  froth  of  the  sea; 
Gigantes  to  have  sprung  out  of  the  blood  which  issued  from  the 
wound  of  Coelus  their  father;  and  Minerva  from  the  brain  of 
Jupiter,  Avhose  head  was  opened  by  the  axe  of  Satan.  Surely 
every  one  may  see  that  it  is  no  less  difficult  to  receive  these  rela- 
tions as  literally  true,  tlian  that  which  states  a  ^^'oman  to  have 
been  built  up  from  the  rib  of  a  man.  Those  Greek  fables  were 
framed  by  men  who  possessed  merely  the  wreck  of  tliat  exalted 
genius  which  had  been  employed  in  the  construction  of  the 
divine  narrative;  nevertheless,  a  sufficient  amount  of  the  origi- 
nal remained,  to  assure  us  that  its  written  utterances  were  sin- 


HOW    THE    NARRATIVE    HAS    BEEN    MISUNDERSTOOD.  117 

gularly  figurative.    It  is  plain  that  the  ideas  and  circumstances 
of  primeval  men  were  very  different  from  those  which  subse- 
quently existed;  and  also  tliat  their  method  of  exi)ressing  them 
must   have  been   less  literal   than   that  which  was  afterwards 
adopted.     It  is,  therefore,  evident  that  we  cannot  arrive  at  cor- 
rect notions  concerning  the  written  sentiments  of  the  former,  by 
the  same  kind  of  judgment  as  that  which  we  bring  to  deciplier 
the  productions  of  the  latter.     What  they  wrote  was  from  inter- 
nal perception;  what  has  subsequently  been  written  has  been 
from  external  information.     The  one  relates  to  internal  things 
figuratively  expressed;  the   other  to   external   things  literally 
described.     By  overlooking  this  distinction,  and  judging  of  the 
documents  of  the  former  by  a  standard  proper  to  be  applied 
only  to  the  writings  of  the  latter,  a  meaning  has  been  claimed 
for  them  which  they  never  could  have  been  intended  to  express. 
We  are  aware  that  the  long  acceptance  of  such  a  meaning  may 
raise  a  difficulty  in  the  way  of  its  being  relinquished.     The 
mind,  when  once  familiarized  with  an  inconsistent  notion,  does 
not  readily  discover  its  perplexities.      It  is  like  a  vicious  habit, 
the  disorder  of  which   is  hidden  from  the  perpetrator  by  long 
continuance.      However,  the  question  is  not  whether  the  literal 
interpretation  of  the  narratives  has  been  long   accepted,    but 
whether  it  be  true:  if  it  be  not  true,  its  antiquity  can  have  no 
claims  upon  our  respect,  and  the  sooner  it  is  abandoned  the  bet- 
ter will  it  be  for  the  interest  of  an  enlightened  and  spiritual 
religion.     The  narrative  is  commonly  spoken  of  as  an  artless 
statement;  this  we  believe  to  be  a  mistaken  idea.     As  a  divine 
composition,  it  must  be  looked  upon  as  a  work  of  God;  and 
cannot,  therefore,  be  an  artless  production:  it  must  be  the  result 
of  the  most  consummate  skill,  and  so  correspond  with  every  other 
work  that  is  divine. 


CHAPTER  X. 

THE  SERPENT  AND  IT8  DECEPTION. 

"Inquire  no  longer,  man!  who  is  the  author  of  evil;  behold  him  in  yourself. — 
Take  away  everything  that  is  the  work  of  man;  and  all  the  rest  is  good." — 
Rousseau. 

The  subjects  treated  of  under  the  representation  of  a  serpent 
and  its  deception  are  of  deep  and  melancholy  interest  to  hu- 
manity. Great  difficulties  have  always  been  experienced  in  the 
way  of  a  satisfactory  understanding  of  them.  The  letter  has 
been  contemplated,  and  the  spirit  overlooked.  We  shall  en- 
deavour to  avoid  that  course,  and  present  the  truth  which  lies 
beyond  it.  Tlie  meaning  is  not  that  which  at  first  appears. 
We  cannot  believe  in  the  existence  of  a  talking  serpent;  we  do 
not  think  that  God  ever  endowed  a  reiDtile  with  the  capability 
of  reasoning;  nor  can  we  conceive  that  mankind  were  seduced 
from  their  propriety  by  the  utterances  of  a  snake.  At  these 
views,  prejudices  may  be  shocked:  we  cannot  help  it;  reason 
will  rejoice:  error  may  be  alarmed,  but  truth  will  be  strength- 
ened and  advanced.  Truth  will  find  her  responses  in  the  inner 
sensations  of  humanity,  if  they  be  fairly  permitted  to  unfold 
themselves.  We  appeal,  with  our  interpretation  of  the  Word, 
to  the  consciousness  and  intuition  of  rational  nature,  as  to  the 
very  counterpart  of  revealed  and  spiritual  wisdom.  Tliere  is 
such  a  ])lienomenon  as  feeling  a  thing  to  be  true,  even  though 
there  may  l)e  difficulties  in  the  way  of  its  clear  utterance  and 
demonstration.  This  we  call  perception, — a  faculty  superior  to 
reason,  for  it  is  the  response  of  nature,  and  not  the  cogitations 
of  art;  and  there  is  a  harmony  existing  between  those  responses 
in  man,  and  a  right  exposition  of  God's  Word.  It  requires  care 
and  eruditi(^n  to  comprehend  and  grasp  an  argument  intended 
to  elaborate  a  truth  for  those  who  are  not  disposed  for  its 
acceptance;  but  the  honest  and  good  heart,  which  loves  truth 
for  its  own  sake,  will  perceive  it  more  clearly  in  tlie  })r()i)(>sitioii 

118 


SCRIPTURE   ACCOUNT    OF    THE    FALL.  119 

than  in  the  argiunent.  If  men  would  only  give  their  hearts 
and  consciences  fair  play,  they  would  soon  be  delivered  from 
many  of  the  fetters  which  have  so  long  bound  them  to  a  mis- 
understanding both  of  revelation  and  of  themselves.  Let  us, 
then,  attend  to  those  approving  impulses  which  arise,  and  strive 
to  retain  the  impressions  they  make  upon  our  minds,  as  Ave 
proceed  in  the  examination  of  the  subjects  before  us. 

In  preceding  chapters  we  have  traced  the  progressive  develop- 
ment of  human  excellence,  and  ultimately  found  mankind  raised 
to  the  very  pinnacle  of  religi(His  greatness.  From  this  they  fell. 
The  manner  of  that  calamity,  together  with  its  immediate  con- 
sequences, are  thus  detailed: — "Now  the  serpent  was  more 
subtle  than  any  beast  of  the  field  which  the  Lord  God  had 
made.  And  he  said  unto  the  woman.  Yea,  hath  God  said.  Ye 
shall  not  eat  of  every  tree  of  the  garden  ?  And  the  woman  said 
unto  the  serpent.  We  may  eat  of  the  fruit  of  the  trees  of  the 
garden;  but  of  the  fruit  of  the  tree  which  is  in  the  midst  of  the 
garden,  God  hath  said,  Ye  shall  not  eat  of  it,  neither  shall  ye 
touch  it,  lest  ye  die.  And  the  serpent  said  unto  the  woman. 
Ye  shall  not  surely  die:  for  God  doth  know  that  in  the  day  ye 
eat  thereof,  then  your  eyes  shall  be  opened,  and  ye  shall  be  as 
gods,  knowing  good  and  evil.  And  when  the  woman  saw  that 
the  tree  was  good  for  food,  and  that  it  was  pleasant  to  the  eyes, 
and  a  tree  to  be  desired  to  make  one  wise,  she  took  of  the  fruit 
thereof,  and  did  eat,  and  gave  also  to  her  husband,  and  he  did 
eat.  And  the  eyes  of  them  both  were  opened,  and  they  knew 
that  they  were  naked. — Therefore  the  Lord  God  sent  him  forth 
from  the  garden  of  Eden  to  till  the  ground  from  whence  he  was 
taken."* 

*  Gen.  iii.  1-7,  23.  Dr.  Aclaui  Clarke  remarks  on  this  narrative,  "That 
man  is  iu  a  fallen  state,  the  history  of  the  world,  with  that  of  the  life  and 
miseries  of  every  human  heing,  establishes  bej'oud  successful  contradiction. 
]iut  Jiow,  and  by  what  agency,  was  this  brought  about  ?  Here  is  a  great 
mj'stery  ;  and  I  may  appeal  to  ail  persons  who  have  read  the  various  com- 
ments that  have  been  written  on  the  Mosaic  account,  whether  they  have  ever 
yet  been  satisfied  on  this  part  of  the  subject,  though  convinced  of  the  fact 
itself.  Who  was  the  serpent  ?  of  what  kind  ?  In  what  way  did  he  seduce  the 
first  happy  pair?  These  are  questions  which  remain  yet  to  be  answered. 
Tiie  whole  account  is  either  a  simple  narrative  of  facts,  or  it  is  an  allegory." 
An  allegory  certainly  !     The  Doctor,  however,  considered  it  as  a  "  narrative 


120  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    IKSPIRATION. 

To  understand  this  account  of  man's  fall,  we  must  remember 
that  the  eminent  condition  from  which  he  descended  had  been 
successively  procured.  His  primeval  state  is  declared  to  have 
been  as  the  earth,  without  form,  and  void;  and  also,  as  darkness 
being  upon  the  face  of  the  deep :  thus  his  original  condition  was 
the  lowest  degree  of  human  life;  from  this  he  was  gradually 
elevated  into  the  highest  degree  of  human  excellence.  That 
low  degree  of  life,  in  which  he  originall}^  stood,  was  doubtless 
of  a  sensual  nature,  but  not  of  an  evil  qualit}^;  for  evil  had  not 
then  come  into  existence.  It  was  an  orderly  degree  of  life 
proper  to  man;  it  had  the  capacity  of  elevation  latent  within  it, 
and  it  was  upon  this  that  his  higher  degrees  of  life  had  a  founda- 
tion. This  is  the  life  into  which  man  now  first  comes,  though 
its  quality,  in  consequence  of  the  fall,  is  more  or  less  tainted 
with  hereditary  evil.  Nevertheless  man,  as  an  infant,  is  the 
mere  creature  of  sensation,  and  the  life  of  the  senses  is  first 
developed,  and  must  be  so,  before  the  higher  degrees  of  intel- 
lectual and  moral  life  can  be  unfolded.  Thus  Adam  was  not 
constituted  by  one  principle  merely,  but  by  several.*  Hi-s 
highest  or  inmost  was  celestial,  the  next  was  spiritual,  and 
after  these  came  the  natural  and  sensual.  The  existence  of 
these  several  principles  in  him  is  proved  b}'-  the  fact  that  they 
are  all,  in  some  measure,  capable  of  being  redeveloped  in  us; 
and  also  in  the  circumstance,  that  they  are  more  or  less  in 
activity  in  every  mind  which  cherishes  respect  for  truth  and 
virtue.  The  internal  principles  of  human  life,  called  celestij^l 
and  spiritual,  are  superior  to  those  more  external   principles 

of  facts,"  and,  after  the  use  of  much  Hebrew  aud  Arabic  learnino;,  arrived  at 
the  conclnsion  that  the  serpent  was  an  orang-outang,  and  that  the  chattering 
and  babbling,  of  which  it  is  now  capable,  are  the  remains  of  the  speech  with 
which  it  was  once  endowed,  and  of  course  the  evidences  of  the  curse.  From 
this  we  dissent.  He,  however,  was  not  quite  certain  that  this  opinion  was 
correct,  nor  do  we  wonder  at  his  doubt.  Speech  is  the  exclusive  endowment 
of  humanity,  and  it  is  attributed  to  the  serpent  only  in  the  way  of  figure. 
But  the  Doctor  farther  says,  "If  it  is  an  allegory,  no  attempt  should  be 
made  to  explain  it."  Indeed  !  no  attempt  to  be  made  to  explain  what  God 
has  allegorically  revealed  !  what  a  commentary  on  commcntatois  and  him- 
self! 

*"It  cannot  be  doubted  that  the  first  man  was  created  with  a  great 
variety  of  instinctive  or  inspired  knowledge."  — S/r  H.  Dai-y. 


VARIOUS    PRINCIPLES    IN    MAN.  121 

denominated  natural  and  sensual;  the  former  belong  more  to 
the  things  of  heaven,  the  latter  relate  more  to  the  things  of  the 
world:  and  this  is  as  true  of  man  in  his  primeval  state  as  it  is 
of  his  condition  now:  though  then  the  exercise  of  his  lower 
principles  was  only  instrumental  to  tlie  purpose  of  liis  higher 
ones;  but  in  after  times  tliis  instrumental  purpose  became  per- 
verted; the  delights  of  the  sensual  principle  began  to  be  culti- 
vated, irrespective  of  superior  ends,  and  his  perceptions  of 
spiritual  and  heavenly  things  were  successively  closed. 

This  distinction  of  principle  in  man  is  of  the  utmost  impor- 
tance to  be  known,  if  we  would  attain  to  any  clear  comprehension 
of  the  subject  before  us.  The  men  of  the  most  ancient  dispensa- 
tion had  not  only  the  higher  principles  of  celestial  and  spiritual 
life,  but  they  had  also  the  lower  principles  of  natural  and  sen- 
sual life.  So  long  as  the  people  continued  in  their  integrity, 
and  maintained  their  innocence,  so  long  all  those  principles 
existed  in  their  proper  order,  the  lower  contributing  to  the 
purposes  of  the  higher;  but  when  man  fell  into  disobedience 
and  guilt,  a  disruption  took  place  among  them,  and  the  lower 
principles  began  to  usurp  the  places  of  the  higher,  and  thereby 
to  paralyze  their  functions.  Hence  it  is  easy  to  see  that  the 
quality  of  man's  sensual  nature  before  his  fall  was  very  different 
from  that  which  it  became  after.  Before  the  fall,  it  was  such 
that  it  yielded  willing  obedience  to  the  dictate  and  impulse  of 
the  higher  principles  of  his  inner  life.  It  was  as  a  servant 
ministering  to  the  attainment  of  superior  ends,  always  acknowl- 
edging its  subordinate  position;  Ijut  after  that  catastrophe  men 
began  to  prefer  the  sensual  things  of  the  body  to  the  intellectual 
and  spiritual  things  of  the  mind,  and  thus  the  instrumental 
became  the  principal,  so  that  the  whole  order  and  series  of  life, 
which  had  been  successively  developed,  were  changed.  This  is 
the  state  of  man  now;  sensual  things  are  uppermost  with  him; 
and  the  design  of  religion,  its  influences  and  leadings,  is  to  regain 
the  order  which  has  been  lost. 

The  senses  are  but  inlets  for  certain  knowledges, — doors 
through  which  information  concerning  the  outer  things  of  the 
world  pass  into  the  mind.  The  elevation  and  enlargement  of 
the  mind  are  ends,  for  the  accomplishment  of  which  the  senses 
are  among  the  appointed  means.     Some  persons  hear,  see,  and 


122  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

taste,  merely  for  tlie  sake  of  hearing,  seeing,  and  tasting;  they 
Hve  a  long  life,  with  a  very  limited  extent  of  intellectual  acquire- 
ments, because  they  have  scarcely  proposed  to  themselves  any 
higher  object  than  the  gratification  of  their  senses.  Whereas 
those  who  have  employed  their  sensual  powers  as  the  ministers 
to  higher  uses,  with  a  view  to  produce  superior  ends,  are  found 
to  jjossess  enlarged  and  comprehensive  knowledges  of  men  and 
things.  These  circumstances  may,  in  some  faint  degree,  enable 
us  to  form  an  idea  of  the  difference  between  the  quality  of  the 
sensual  principle  of  man  before  and  after  his  fall.  But  the  dis- 
tinction is  admissive  of  illustration  and  exjilanation  by  other 
facts  known  to  general  experience. 

For  instance,  Avhen  we  are  earnestly  endeavouring  to  under- 
stand the  meaning  of  a  speaker,  the  Avords  give  us  little  concern: 
we  hear  them,  indeed,  yet  they  aflfect  the  sense  of  hearing  very 
slightly,  .because  of  the  interest  we  are  taking  to  collect  the 
meaning:  nor  is  this  all,  for  if  we  think  a  little  more  interiorly, 
and  pay  attention  to  what  is  really  transpiring  in  our  mind,  it 
will  occasionally  be  found  that  we  do  not  always  gather  the 
meaning  as  intellectual  sentiments,  in  consequence  of  our  chief 
aim  being  to  catch  and  comprehend  the  feeling  which  urges  the 
discourse.  Some  persons  hear  the  words,  but  do  not  grasp  the 
sentiment;  they  say  the  language  was  good  and  the  discourse 
powerful,  but  can  scarcely  give  an  idea  as  to  what  it  was  about: 
with  such  the  sensuality  of  hearing  is  the  chief  thing.  Others 
hear  the  words,  but  listen  to  them  only  as  the  instruments  for 
communicating  the  ideas  of  the  speaker;  with  them  the  activity 
of  the  sensual  principle  is  directed  to  a  higher  use:  with  others, 
however,  the  sense  is  l:)ut  imperfectly  collected,  in  consequence 
of  the  attention  being  so  deeply  engaged  to  comprehend  the 
feeling  of  the  utterer:  with  such  the  sensual  principle  is  directed 
to  a  nobler  end.  This  latter  was  a  use  which  the  men  of  the 
purest  times  made  of  their  sensual  principle,  while  the  former 
are  characteristics  that  have  been  engendered  in  later  periods. 
We  call  attention  to  these  distinctions,  because  the  Scriptures 
have  presented  both  conditions  of  the  sensual  principle  to  us 
under  the  emblem  of  a  serpent.  AMien  the  sensual  princii)le  is 
circumspect,  and  employed  as  a  means  for  the  acquisition  of  use- 
ful knowledge,  then  is  fulfilled  the  divine  injunction,  "Be  ye 


THE    SERPENT   AS    A    SYMBOL.  123 

wise  as  serpents";*  but  when  it  is  used  merely  for  the  purpose 
of  securing  sensual  gratification,  then  it  is  declared  to  be  the 
"serpent  more  subtle  than  ijny  l)east  of  the  field."  f 

There  are  few  facts  better  attested  hy  historical  evidence  than 
that  the  serpent  has,  by  all  the  nations  of  antiquity,  been  re- 
garded as  a  type,  and  employed  symbolically.  It  is  conspicu- 
ous in  their  history,  stands  out  in  their  fables,  and  is  visible  in 
their  religion.  Herodotus  informs  us  that  it  was  sacred  at 
Thebes;  X  and  the  hieroglyphics  which  have  been  brought  to 
light  in  our  own  times  al^undantly  show  that  it  must  have  been 
used  in  an  emblematical  way  among  the  ancient  Egyptians. 
Bryant,  also,  asserts  that  in  the  first  ages  the  serpent  was  ex- 
tensively introduced  into  all  the  mysteries  that  were  celebrated; 
and  that  wherever  the  Ammonians  founded  any  places  of  wor- 
ship, there  was  generally  some  story  of  a  serpent.  There  was  a 
legend  about  it  at  Thebes,  at  Colchis,  and  Delphi.  Even  the 
Athenians  had  a  tradition  that  the  chief  guardian  of  their  Acrop- 
olis was  a  serpent.  §  It  is  sometimes  presented  under  a  variety 
of  ideal  forms,  nor  is  it  uncommon  to  find  it  represented  with  a 
human  head.  ||  It  is  impossible  rationally  to  contemplate  these 
circumstances,  and  doubt  that  the  serpent  sustained  some  sym- 
l)olical  character.  The  facts  at  once  suggest  that  such  must 
have  been  the  design  of  the  serpent  said  to  have  been  more  subtle 
than  any  Ijeast  of  the  field:  and  here  we  raise  the  question,  Of 
what  was  it  significant  ? 

The  various  nations  by  whom  it  was  symbolically  used  do 
not  appear  to  have  viewed  it  under  the  same  aspect.  Uniform- 
ity of  idea,  in  this  respect,  would  not  long  continue  after  that 
knowledge  had  perished  which  originally  directed  its  selection 
for  a  symbolical  purpose;  and  when  men  w^ere  left,  with  no 
other  guide  than  a  fallen  fancy,  and  no  sounder  principle  than  a 
dim  caprice,  to  conduct  them  in  the  profound  matters  of  relig- 
ion and  its  objects.  The  serpent  is  said  to  have  been  wor- 
shipped, from  the  circumstance  of  its  having  been  mentioned 

*  Matt.  X.  16.  t  Gen.  iii.  1.  t  Euterpe,  Lxxiv. 

I  Biyant  on  Serpent  Worship,  vol.  i.,  p.  476,  &c. 

II  See  Montfaucon's  Antiij.,  l)y  Humphreys.  Chimaera  is  said  to  have  been 
a  black-eyed  nymph  in  her  uijper  part,  but  downwards  a  frightful  serpent. 
Hem'oiVs  Theogony. 


124  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

and  set  apart  as  one  of  the  objects  associated  with  the  religion 
of  Egypt.  This  was  the  opinion  of  Eusebius  and  others:  and  it 
might  have  been  the  case  in  the  most  corrupted  periods  of  Egyp- 
tian learning.  That  is,  it  might  then  have  become  the  symbol 
of  something  to  be  worshipped;  but,  although  it  was  always  a 
symbol,  that  was  not  always  the  object  of  it.  The  serpent  came  to 
be  spoken  of  as  sacred,  only  from  the  circumstance  of  its  having 
been  associated  with  religious  sentiments;  it  was  not  at  first  set 
apart  to  be  Avorshipped,  or  for  any  good  it  could  bestow,  but 
rather  to  be  dreaded  for  the  mischiefs  it  might  originate.  It 
was  the  symbol  of  something  that  might,  if  not  guarded  against, 
be  disastrous  to  mankind.  Hence  we  find  it  so  frequently 
referred  to  in  the  legends  of  remote  antiquity,  as  having  ex- 
ercised an  unfavourable  influence  upon  the  destinies  of  the 
people.  Every  one  knows  that  the  figure  of  a  serpent  biting  its 
tail  is  very  ancient;  it  is  commonly  regarded  as  the  emblem  of 
eternity:  but  is  it  not  rather  a  representative  of  evil  punishing 
itself?  In  Phoenician  mythology  we  read  of  a  serpent  sur- 
rounding an  egg,  plainly  implying  the  danger  with  which  life 
is  beset  by  sensuality  from  its  very  beginning.  Among  that  of 
the  Greeks,  we  are  informed  of  the  hair  of  Medusa  being  trans- 
formed into  serpents,  because  she  had  violated  the  sanctity  of 
the  temple  of  Minerva.  The  serpents  are  evidently  employed 
to  represent  the  sensuality  she  had  indulged.  The  serpent 
Python,  which  is  fabled  to  have  sprung  out  of  the  mud  left  by 
the  deluge  of  Deucalion,  was  an  emblem  of  the  evil  occasioned 
to  Greece  by  the  inundation  of  Thessaly.  The  serpents  which 
the  infant  Hercules  strangled  in  his  cradle  Avere,  unquestionably, 
a  representation  of  innocence  conquering  the  l)landishments  of 
sensuality;  and  the  hydra,  which  he  afterwards  overthrew,  was 
a  representation  of  those  evils  which  the  labours  of  energy  and 
fortitude  may  overcome.  So,  also,  the  Cadueeus,  which  was  a 
rod  entwined  Ijy  serpents,  and  with  which  INIercury  is  said  to 
have  conducted  souls  to  the  infernal  regions,  plainly  symbolized 
the  evils  which  cling  to  a  misdirected  power,  and  so  conduce  to 
misery.  Esculapius,  the  medical  attendant  on  the  Argonauts, 
is  always  represented  with  a  serpent  entwined  about  his  staff, 
to  denote  the  power  of  the  physician  over  the  diseases  of  huuian- 
ity.     Many  other  instances  of  the  emblematical  use  of  the  ser- 


SERPENT,    THE    SENSUAL    PRINCIPLE.  125 

pent  might  be  collected  from  the  writings  of  the  ancients,  but 
these  are  sufficient  for  our  purpose:  they  plainly  show  that  the 
emblem  of  that  wlicreby  man  fell  was  preserved  among  mankind 
for  a  long  time  after  the  reminiscence  of  its  definite  signification 
had  passed  away.  They  retained  the  emblem,  with  some  gen- 
eral idea  of  its  meaning,  but  had  lost  sight  of  its  precise  signifi- 
cation. For  tins  we  must  go  to  analogy  and  the  Scriptures. 
Those  are  the  only  sources  whence  satisfactory  information  can 
be  drawn,  and  they  will  show  us  that  the  serpent  was  the 
sensual  principle  of  man.* 

"Of  all  the  objects  of  the  animal  kingdom,  the  reptile  tribe  is 
the  lowest,  of  which  serpents  of  various  kinds  and  species  are 
the  most  conspicuous.  Of  all  the  degrees  of  man's  life,  the 
sensual  and  corporeal  are  the  lowest;  because  they  are  nearest  to 
the  earth,  and  are  actuated  by  merely  earthly  appetites,  influ- 
ences, and  causes.  These  lowest  degrees  in  man's  nature  par- 
take the  least  of  what  is  truly  human  in  man,  and  the  serpent, 
their  corresponding  emblem,  is  of  all  animals  the  most  remote 
from  the  human  form.  As  the  serpent  crawls  upon  the  earth, 
so  the  sensual  principle  in  man  is  nearest  akin  to  the  earth, 
which,  if  not  elevated  by  tlie  rational  and  spiritual  jninciples  of 
his  nature,  may  be  said  to  crawl  upon  the  earth  in  like  manner. 
As  sensual  things  have  a  tendency  to  fascinate  and  charm  the 
mind,  because  sensual  delights  are  more  vividly  experienced 
than  any  others,  so  certain  kinds  of  serpents,  especially  the 
more  malignant,  are  said  by  naturalists  to  fascinate  and  cliarm 
their  prey  before  they  devour  it.  "f  The  general  analogies,  so 
satisfactorily  presented  in  this  extract,  assists  us  in  perceiving 

*  Tlie  Rev.  J.  Hewlett,  B.D.,  in  his  "Annotations,"  observes,  "St.  Paul, 
in  addressing  himself  to  the  Corinthians,  says,  '  I  fear,  lest,  as  the  serpent 
beguiled  Eve,  through  liis  subtlety,  so  your  minds  should  be  corrupted  from 
the  simplicity  which  is  in  Clirist'  Now  the  city  of  Corinth  was  notorious, 
even  to  a  proverb,  for  its  devotion  to  pleasure,  lor  the  grossest  sensuality  and 
voluptuousness  ;  and  as  the  holy  apostle  draws  a  parallel  l)etween  them  and 
the  temptation  which  seduced  Eve,  it  may  be  supposed  that  he  favours  the 
allegorical  interpretation  of  those  who  consider  the  serpent  as  the  well-known 
emblem  or  symbol  of  sensual  pleasure." 

t  A  writer  under  the  signature  of  "Minus,"  in  the  "Intellectual  Repos- 
itory "  for  1843,  p.  53. 


126  THE    'WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

certain  general  resemblances  between  the  serpent  and  the  sen- 
sual principle  of  man. 

Now  the  serpent*  which  was  in  Eden,  we  believe  to  have 
been  the  sensual  principle  that  was  connected  with  Adam's 
character.  For  a  time  there  was  with  him  a  realization  of  tlie 
Lord's  injunction  to  be  "  Avise  as  serpents."  The  sensual  prin- 
ciple, at  first,  was  right  and  orderly,  because  it  stood  in  its 
proper  relation  to  the  dictates  of  his  higher  nature.  It  was  among 
the  objects  upon  which  the  Divine  approbation  had  been  pro- 
nounced: for  the  Lord  declared  the  creeping  things  to  be  "  good," 
yea,  "very  good."  This,  then,  was  a  characteristic  of  the 
serpent,  or,  more  literally,  of  the  sensual  princii'tle  of  Adam,  as 
declared  of  it  l^y  the  Lord  himself. 

So  long  as  it  was  employed  instrumentaUy  to  promote  the  ends 
of  spiritual  use  and  order,  so  long  it  was  wise;  but  when  it  was 
directed  principally  to  secure  the  gratifications  of  corjDoreal 
nature,  it  became  most  subtle.  The  wisdom  of  the  serpent  is 
the  circumspection  and  prudence  of  the  sensual  principle  of  man; 
the  subtlety  of  the  serpent  is  its  artifice  and  deception.  In  neither 
case  was  a  literal  serpent  meant.  The  very  circumstances  of  the 
narrative  having  given  to  it  speaking  and  reasoning  powers, 
ought  to  have  preserved  mankind  from  the  belief  of  such  a  cru- 
dity. If  it  once  could  speak,  when  and  how  did  it  lose  the 
power?  The  Scriptures  furnisli  no  answer.  Theology  has  sug- 
gested that  it  was  the  devil,  and  not  the  serpent,  who  spoke. 
But  the  Scriptures  do  not  say  so.  They  express  no  idea  about 
the  then  existence  of  the  devil:  f  how  could  he  have  come  into 

*  The  Hebrew  word  here  translated  serpent  is  Nachnsh.  Much  learning 
has  been  bestowed  upon  this  term,  for  the  purpose  of  determining  who  or 
what  the  serpent  was,  but  without  any  verj'  Batisfactory  results.  The  pi'in- 
cipal  reason  is,  because  a  sense  has  been  sought  for  it  which  it  was  never  in- 
tended to  express.  Forbes,  in  his  '"Oriental  Memoirs,"  says,  "A  great 
nuisance  at  Benares  is  the  numl)er  of  Yogees,  Scnassees,  and  Nanglias,  or  re- 
ligions mendicants,  who  go  about  entirely  naked:  we  occasionally  meet  with 
a  few  of  these  people  at  other  places,  but  here  they  abound. "    (Vol.  iv.,  p.  86.) 

t"This  question  maybe  asked, — If  such  be  the  case,  how  came  the 
opijiion  so  general  respecting  fallen  angels,  and  whence  was  it  derived? 
There  can  be  no  doubt  respecting  the  source  whence  it  was  obtained.  The 
first  notion  of  the  existence  of  a  fallen  angel  is  found  in  the  Zendavcsta.    The 


THE    TENDENCY    OF    MAN's    LOWER    NATURE.  127 

being  before  evil  bad  been  perpetrated  ?  Tbe  Scrii)tures  most 
distinctly  assert  that  it  was  the  serpent  which  spoke:  nor  is 
there,  throughout  the  whole  narrative,  the  slightest  intimation 
that  it  was  any  other  being.  The  faculty  of  speech  is  attributed 
to  it  because  it  is  significant  of  the  sensual  principle  of  man; 
which  is,  indeed,  a  speaking  principle,  uttering  wisdom  when  it 
is  used  as  the  instrument  of  spiritual  order,  but  discoursing  arti- 
fice when  separated  therefrom  and  directed  to  worldly  indul- 
gence. 

Man  is  formed,  not  by  one  principle  only,  but  l\y  many;  he 
has  not  lost  any  of  them  by  the  fall :  that  calamity  destroyed 
their  quality,  and  perverted  the  order  of  their  existence,  but  it 
obliterated  none.  Hence  humanity,  in  its  primitive  perfection, 
must  have  had  principles  distinguished  by  higher  and  lower 
degrees  of  excellence;  the  interior  being  allied  to  the  things  of 
spirituality  and  heaven,  and  the  exterior  to  the  objects  of  cor- 
poreity and  earth. 

Now,  one  of  the  distinguished  characteristics  of  the  Adamic 
people  was  their  freedom.  When  placed  in  the  garden,  they 
had  a  choice  given  to  them  to  ol)ey  or  transgress  the  divine  com- 
mands. It  was  said  to  them,  ' '  Of  every  tree  of  the  garden  thou 
mayest  freely  eat:  but  of  the  tree  of  knowledge  of  good  and  evil, 
thou  shalt  not  eat  of  it."  This  freedom  must  have  been  very 
perfect,  because  their  condition  is  pronounced  to  have  been  very 
good.  From  this  state  they  must  have  known  the  truth,  for  it 
is  a  law  that  those  who  know  the  truth,  "the  truth  shall  make 
them  free."*  Moreover,  the  Spirit  of  God  was  present  with 
them,  and  the  apostle  has  declared  that  "where  the  Spirit  of 
the  Lord  is,  there  is  liberty. ' '  f  They  had  been  raised  to  the 
summit  of  their  excellence  by  the  use  of  freedom  in  that  direc- 

later  Jews  })ecame  conversant  wilh  the  Persian  mythology,  and  introduced 
this,  with  various  other  notions,  into  their  writings,  and  it  seems  to  have 
heen  adopted  by  the  early  Christians,  without  any  inquiry  into  the  Scrip- 
tural authority  upon  which  it  rested.  Our  inunortal  countryman,  Milton, 
by  clothing  this  tiction  of  the  Persian  mythology,  in  all  the  beauty  and 
attractions  of  poetry,  has  so  recommended  it  to  our  imagination,  that  we 
almost  receive  it  as  of  divine  authority;  and  we  feel  a  reluctance  to  be  con- 
vinced that  all  his  splendid  fabric  is  based  on  falsehood."— Jo/(n.  Lamh,  D.D. 
Hehreic  Chnrncfcrs  derived  from  nierogJijphics.  Pp.  118,  119.  Sec.  ed. 
*  John  viii.  32.  t  2  Cor.  iii.  17. 


128  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

tion.  Rut  this  did  not  compel  them  to  remain  there.  They  did 
not  forfeit  their  freedom  l)y  the  attainment  of  their  superiority: 
it  was  enlarged  and  perfected  as  they  ascended. 

While  the  men  of  the  most  ancient  times  employed  this  free- 
dom in  co-operating  with  the  Lord  to  develop  the  interior  re- 
sources of  their  orderly  humanity,  it  was  exercised  in  a  wise 
and  right  direction;  but  by  that  very  freedom  they  could  again 
descend  the  mountain  they  had  climbed:  yet  to  do  so  would 
necessarily  be  attended  by  a  curtailment  of  their  freedom.  "  He 
who  doeth  sin  is  the  servant  of  sin."  *  Freedom  is  rightly  used 
Avhen  it  causes  all  the  principles  of  men  to  look  inwards  and 
onwards  to  the  attainment  of  superior  states:  but  it  is  abused 
when  it  permits  them  to  look  outwards  and  backwards  to  the 
delights  supplied  by  inferior  things. 

Now,  the  tendency  of  man's  lower  sentiments  and  disposition 
is  towards  the  world,  while  the  impulses  of  his  spiritual  nature 
and  inclination  are  towards  heaven:  and,  so  long  as  the  former 
remain  under  the  influences  of  the  latter,  so  long  order  is  pre- 
served, and  all  their  respective  relationships  are  good:  but  who 
does  not  know  that  the  inferior  principles  strive  to  relax  the  vigi- 
lance of  the  superior?  Who  has  not  occasionally  exi:)erienced 
the  lower  principles  of  his  nature  proposing  doubts  as  to  the 
reality  of  those  ol)jects  which  the  higher  principles  believed  and 
sought  after?  Who  has  not  sometimes  permitted  his  judgment 
to  be  formed  only  by  the  testimony  of  the  eye,  or  the  evidence 
of  some  other  sense,  and  yielded  belief  only  to  those  things 
which  he  could  see  and  touch,  and  has  cherished  doubts  about 
those  interipr  subjects  which  are  to  be  known  only  to  the  inner 
convictions,  by  means  of  the  mental  sight  and  higher  feelings  of 
our  nature?  These  are  no  uncommon  circumstances.  They 
come  home  to  the  general  experiences  of  men:  and,  surely,  it  is 
easy  to  see,  when  our  sensual  nature  is  endeavouring  to  separate 
itself  from  the  light  and  guidance  of  our  spiritual  nature,  that 
the  serpent  is  attempting  to  deceive  us.  The  sensual  principle 
endeavours  to  persuade  us  that  the  objects  of  tlie  outer  senses 
are  more  real  than  the  things  of  intellectual  jierception;  and 
thus  it  Avould  induce  us  to  prefer  the  pleasures  of  tlie  world  to 
the  felicities  of   heaven.      Do  we  not,   in  this  fact,  even  now, 

*  John  viii.  34. 


THE    SENSUAL    PRINCIPLE.  129 

experience  the  temptation  of  the  serpent?  Does  it  not  make  an 
effort  to  weaken  our  regard  for  God's  commandments,  and  is  it 
not  frequently  insinuating,  that  the  gratification  of  the  passions 
of  our  lower  nature  is  preferable  to  the  delights  anticipated  by 
our  higher  principles  ?  Is  not  this  fact  the  common  experience 
of  men,  and  does  it  not  suggest  a  reasonable  exposition  of  the 
serpent  saying,  ' '  Ye  shall  not  surely  die "  ?  The  serpent  of 
natural  history  cannot  say  this,  but  the  sensual  principle  of 
man  practically  does  so  whenever  it  begins  to  act  independently 
of  higher  powers;  and  this  we  conceive  to  have  been  the  very 
serpent  by  which  Adam  was  seduced  from  his  propriety,  and 
led  into  transgression  ! 

The  serpent  is  said  to  have  been  "  more  subtle  than  any  beast 
of  the  field, ' '  not  to  teach  that  it  has  any  remarkable  sagacity 
beyond  what  is  common  to  the  instinct  of  animated  nature,  for 
no  such  fact  is  known  to  naturalists;  but  this  is  said  of  it  to 
inform  us  that  the  sensual  principle  is  the  lowest  and  the  least 
to  be  depended  on  of  all  the  other  afifections  belonging  to  our 
external  man :  it  is  requisite  to  watch  over  it  by  the  higher 
powers  of  our  minds,  and  to  direct  it  by  superior  principles,  or 
it  will  be  sure  to  lead  us  into  a  forgetfulness  of  our  highest  duty, 
and  finally  plunge  us  into  disobedience.  The  reason  is,  because 
it  dwells  as  it  were  upon  the  outer  extremes  of  human  life.  It 
thus  readily  receives  impressions  from  the  external  world,  by 
which  the  memory  is  furnished  with  information,  which  it  can 
wield  with  a  persuasive  art  in  favour  of  the  delights  and  pursuits 
of  worldly  things.  It  reasons  with  shrewdness  and  dexterity, 
because  its  thoughts  are  so  near  the  tongue:  it  thinks  that  intelli- 
gence consists  in  speaking  from  the  memory  concerning  things 
collected  from  without,  and  views  the  understanding  of  things 
implanted  by  the  Lord  with  doubt  and  disrespect. 

There  is  nothing  so  deceptive  as  the  senses.  If  we  trust  to 
them  only  for  information,  our  judgment  and  conclusions  must 
be  full  of  error.  There  is  a  proverb  that  "  seeing  is  believing  " ; 
but  it  is  not  always  true.  We  have  to  correct  the  impression 
which  we  receive  from  Avithout,  by  the  higher  faculties  of  our 
minds,  in  order  to  reach  the  truth.  How  various  are  the 
fallacies  of  vision  !  The  sun  appears  but  a  small  body,  formed 
to  rise  and  set  upon  the  earth,  which  seems  immovable.  The 
11 


loO  THE    WORD    AXD    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

stars,  also,  aj^pear  to  be  fixed  in  the  same  extended  plane,  and 
moving  from  east  to  west  in  the  vast  expanse;  but  these  things 
are  not  really  so;  they  are  mere  fallacies  of  tlie  sight,  which  we 
correct  by  another  and  superior  power  !  If  the  sensual  principle 
be  not  so  corrected,  it  remains  in  fallacies,  and  it  will  be  found 
to  appeal  to  the  testimony  of  the  senses  for  evidences  that  the 
appearance  is  the  reality.  The  subtlety  of  the  serpent  consists 
m  the  fallacies  which  sensuality  induces.  All  its  reasonings  are 
grounded  in  worldly  things;  and  by  these  it  would  lead  us  to 
believe  that  there  is  nothing  worthy  of  our  attention  or  attach- 
ment, but  what  we  can  see,  feel,  or  taste:  and  there  is  a  force 
and  plausibility  about  such  reasonings,  which  fits  them  for  the 
purposes  of  seduction. 

Any  one  capable  of  seeing  how  the  higher  powers  of  the  mind 
correct  the  fallatdous  impressions  which  outward  and  worldly 
things  make  upon  the  lower  senses,  will  readily  perceive  hoAv 
it  was  that  all  the  faculties  and  powers  of  Adam,  during  his 
integrity,  existed  in  harmony  and  order.  For  a  time,  his  sen- 
sual principle  was  as  wise  as  a  serpent,  because  it  admitted  into 
it  the  correcting  light  of  spirituality  and  intelligence.  Still  it 
was  not  removed  from  the  influences  of  the  world;  and  he 
possessed  both  the  power  and  freedom,  if  he  chose  to  incur  the 
responsibility,  of  listening  to  its  suggestions.  This,  according 
to  the  history  of  the  temptation,  was  actually  done;  thereby  the 
light,  by  which  his  sensual  nature  had  been  previously  illumi- 
nated, began  to  be  diminished  in  its  force,  and  the  consequence 
was  that  fallacies  were  received  and  believed  as  truths,  and 
thus  the  way  was  opened  for  evil  to  begin  its  deadly  work. 

The  fall  of  man,  as  thus  effected,  was  a  gradual  event.  It 
began  by  his  commencing  to  love  the  good  of  his  inferior  i)rin- 
ciples,  in  preference  to  the  good  of  his  superior  ones;  succes- 
sively descending,  until  he  finally  sunk  into  the  i^ersuasions  and 
delusions  of  his  sensual  nature.  This  was  the  circumstance  in 
which  evil  had  its  origin,  and  men  Avill  obtain  a  tolerably  cor- 
rect idea  of  that  disastrous  event,  if  they  Avill  but  carefully 
attend  to  the  beginning  of  their  own  actual  guilt.  Every  one 
knows  that  this  liad  its  conmiencement  in  freely  yielding  to  the 
suggestion  of  his  sensual  nature,  to  gratify  some  selfish  love. 
It   was   near   to    him,    and    promised    immediate   satisfaction, 


THE    FALL    OF    MAN    A    GRADUAL    EVENT.  131 

whereas  those  which  were  of  a  superior  nature  seemed  to  be  at  a 
greater  distance,  and  to  exert  a  feebler  influence.  The  serpent 
which  seduced  the  inlial)itants  of  Eden  from  their  innocence  and 
wisdom  is  the  same  as  that  by  which  transgression  and  guilt 
have  been  perpetuated.  Man  is  its  exclusive  author,  and  not 
anything  extrinsic  to  him.  The  attempt  to  charge  it  upon  some 
other  being  is  only  another  act  of  self-delusion.  It  is  the 
endeavour  of  man  to  excuse  his  own  misconduct,  by  heighten- 
ing the  criminality  of  another;  but  this  he  cannot  do  until  after 
the  perpetration  of  his  own  guilt. 

But  Adam  did  not  at  once  sink  into  every  evil:  the  depth  of  his 
criminality,  like  that  of  the  guilt  of  men  in  subsequent  ages,  was 
a  progressive  result.  The  first  intimation  of  it  is  given  in  the 
preceding  chapter,  where  it  is  said  that ' '  it  was  not  good  for 
man  to  be  alone,"  of  which  we  have  already  spoken.  At  first 
he  only  inclined  towards  the  impulses  of  his  sensual  nature;  he 
afterwards  began  to  inquire  whether  it  was  not  lawful  to  prefer 
its  desires  and  suggestions,  and  at  length  he  yielded  to  its 
solicitations.  Nevertheless,  the  evils  into  which  he  fell  were 
mild  and  few,  compared  with  those  which  were  perpetrated  in 
after  times.  His  transgression  was  only  the  beginning  of  that 
catastrophe  by  which  the  fall  of  man  was  made  complete.  Suc- 
cessive ages  added  to  the  enormities  Avhich  he  began,  but  the 
atrocity  of  the  fall  could  not  have  reached  its  depth,  until  the 
Lord   Jesus  Christ  came  into  the  world,*  in  order  to  bruise  the 

*  It  may  be  a  matter  of  surprise  to  some  to  hear  that  the  fall  of  man  was 
not  completed  before  the  time  of  the  Lord's  manifestation.  This,  however, 
we  think  is  very  plain,  from  a  careful  consideration  of  the  Scriptural  His- 
tory of  man.  The  extreme  of  the  divine  mercy  was  adopted  when  the 
extremeof  human  necessity  had  arrived.  Still,  the  state  of  Rome,  in  respect 
to  its  refinements  in  literature,  the  arts,  and  general  civilization  ;  its  suc- 
cessful and  extensive  conquests,  together  with  the  circumstance  of  its  having 
been  the  Augustan  age,  when  peace  was  so  settled  with  all  the  world  that 
the  temple  of  Janus  (Patulcius)  was  shut  up,  may  be  urged  as  facts  difficult 
to  reconcile  with  the  above  statement.  But  no  condition  of  merely  natural 
civilization,  however  eminent,  if  it  be  destitute  of  true  religious  grounds, 
can  be  of  any  weight  in  an  argument  of  this  kind.  That  the  civilization  of 
Rome,  or  of  any  other  of  the  nations,  had  no  ground  in  genuine  religion,  is 
the  uniform  testimony  of  all  hist-ory.  The  fall  of  man  was  complete  when 
he  was  separated  by  pride,  ambition,  selfishness,  and  all  their  attendant  evils, 
from  divine  and  heavenly  influences :  and  there  is  evidence  to  prove  that 


132  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

head  of  the  serpent  whicli  had  occasioned  that  calamity.  In 
the  acts  attendant  upon  that  coming,  he  fulfilled  the  prediction 
which  was  delivered  immediately  after  the  temptation  became 
successful.  But  how  did  he  fulfil  it?  Was-  it  by  bruising  any 
natural  serpent's  head?     Certainly  not.     As  the  prediction  was 

these  features  distinguished  the  nations  at  the  period  of  our  Lord's  manifes- 
tation more  than  at  any  other  time  in  the  history  of  our  race.  The  awful 
character  which  Jesus  draws  of  the  Jewish  nation  is  a  representation  of  tlie 
Church  as  it  then  existed  with  mankind  at  hirge.  Sismondi,  in  his  history 
of  the  "Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire,"  speaking  of  the  Julian  family,  say.s, 
"  it  is  that  of  the  '  dictator  Caesar  ';  his  name  was  transmitted,  by  adoption, 
out  of  the  direct  line,  but  always  within  the  circle  of  his  kindred,  to  the  five 
first  heads  of  the  Roman  Empire.  Augustus  reigned  from  the  year  80  B.C. 
to  the  year  14  of  our  era  ;  Tiberius  from  14  to  37  A.D. ;  Caligula  from  37  to 
41  ;  Claudius  from  41  to  54  ;  Nero  from  54  to  68.  Their  names  alone,  with 
the  exception  of  the  first,  concerning  whom  there  still  exists  some  diversity 
of  opinion,  recall  everything  that  is  shameful  and  perfidious  in  man, — every- 
thing that  is  atrocious  in  the  abuse  of  ateolute  power.  Never  had  the  world 
been  astounded  with  such  a  variety  and  enormity  of  crime  ;  never  had  so 
fatal  an  attack  been  made  on  every  virtue  which  men  had  been  accustomed 
to  hold  in  reverence." — Cabinet  Cyclopasdia,  Vol.  I.,  p.  28.  We  may  be 
reminded  that  the  world  had  become  exceedingly  wicked  at  the  time  of  the 
flood  ;  and  also,  that  after  that  catastrophe,  the  atrocities  of  men,  indicated 
in  the  overthrow  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  were  exceedingly  revolting  ;  and 
from  these  facts  it  may  be  argued  that  men  had  fallen  at  those  periods,  quite 
as  low  as  any  degradation  observable  in  their  history  at  the  time  of  the  Lord's 
advent  into  the  world.  But  those  who  hold  to  that  conclusion  are  not  yet 
in  possession  of  all  the  facts  and  circumstances  of  the  case. 

The  fact  of  the  Antediluvians  having  perished  through  the  evils  which 
oppressed  theru,  is  no  more  evidence  that  the  fall  had  reached  its  greatest 
depth,  than  the  crucifixion  of  the  thief  is  a  proof  that  he  was  the  worst  of 
men.  The  remarkable  way  in  which  the  Antediluvians  perished,  shows  that 
there  were  some  circumstances  peculiar  to  their  case,  but  it  does  not  show 
the  completeness  of  the  fall.  Their  minds  were  originally  constituted  from  the 
reception  of  heavenly  influences  by  nn  internal  way,  and  it  was  the  eff'ectual 
closing  up  of  that  way  which  brought  about  the  deluge  :  when  men  so  cir- 
cumstanced ceased,  as  it  were,  to  respire  with  heaven,  they  perished  ;  hut 
there  was  another  and  more  external  way,  by  which  holy  things  might  obtain 
access  to  the  mind  ;  this,  not  being  opened  out  with  the  Antediluvians,  they 
did  not  pervert.  This  way  for  the  entrance  of  holy  things  into  the  mind  was 
opened  out  with  the  Noachic  people  ;  it  belonged  to  that  new  covenant  that 
was  established  with  thehi,  and  it  was  not  until  after  this  was  closed  that 
the  fall  became  complete. 

The  fall  of  man  is  not  to  be  considered  simply  as  a  fall  into  criminal  acts, 
but  chiefly  as  the  corruption  and  wreck  of  all  his  human  principles,  and  thus 


THE    FALL   COMPLETED    WHEN    JESUS    CAME.  133 

not  SO  fulfilled,  is  it  not  evident  that  it  could  not  have  been  any 
natural  serpent  which  caused  the  temptation  ?  The  serpents  of 
that  time  were  the  sensualities  of  fallen  humanity,  for  the  Lord 
distinctly  asserted  the  Jews  to  be  "  serpents,  and  a  generation 

as  the  perversion  of  all  his  inclinatious  to  receive  and  retain  all  the  spiritual 
sentiments  of  purity  and  heaven. 

The  human  principles  are  celestial,  spiritual,  and  natural  :  it  is  these  which 
distinguish  man  from  the  beast ;  and  the  two  former  fell  into  depravity  before 
the  latter  was  entirely  corrupted.  They  are  distinct  degrees  of  human  life, 
to  which  respectively  belong  the  sentiments  of  love,  faith,  and  duty  ;  and 
that  which  was  pre-eminent  in  eacli  principle  stood  out  as  the  characteristic 
of  mankind  in  the  best  times  of  the  Adamic,  Noachic,  and  Israelitish  people. 
In  each  of  those  periods,  a  Divine  Dispensation  was  established,  suited  to 
the  prevailing  genius  and  requirements  of  the  people  to  whom  it  was  vouch- 
safed :  the  first,  however,  was  associated  with  a  more  interior  life,  even  in  its 
visible  character,  than  the  intermediate  and  the  last.  How  plain  is  it  that 
the  condition  of  religion  which  was  begun  with  Adam  was  much  more 
eminent  than  that  which  had  its  commencement  with  Noah  ;  and  how  cer- 
tain is  it  that  this  was  superior  to  that  which  was  established  with  Abraham 
and  his  descendants  !  The  reason  is,  because  the  fir-st  was  adapted  more  to 
the  loving  or  celestial  principle  ;  the  second,  to  the  believing  or  spiritual 
principle  ;  and  the  third,  to  the  obeying  or  natural  principle  of  the  people. 
It  is  well  known  that  each  of  these  churches  declined  and  fell,  but  the 
peculiar  nature  of  these  falls  was  that  the  people  of  each  successively  cor- 
rupted that  piinciple  in  themselves,  to  which  its  teachings  were  specifically 
addressed.  Thus  the  celestial  principle  in  man  was  closed  when  the  divine 
things  proper  to  the  Adamic  dispensation  ceased  to  be  perceived,  and  its  ruin 
is  revealed  to  us  bj'  the  calamity  of  the  flood.  The  spiritual  principle  was 
corrupted  when  the  divine  things  proper  to  the  Noachic  dispensation  ceased  to 
be  acknowledged,  and  its  wreck  and  desolation  are  represented  by  the  con- 
fusion of  tongues  and  tlie  dispersion  of  mankind  ;  and  the  natural  principle 
was  defiled  when  the  obedience  proper  to  the  Israelitish  economy  ceased  to 
be  observed,  and  its  fall  is  shown  by  the  termination  thereof  at  the  coming 
of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

Hence  we  learn  that  the  cessation  of  each  Church  was  accompanied  by,  or 
rather  that  it  resulted  from,  the  corruption  of  that  distinctive  principle  in 
man  for  the  development  and  maintenance  of  which  it  had  been  mercifully 
provided.  Consequently,  the  fall  consisted  in  the  successive  defilement  of 
each  distinct  principle  of  human  life.  Thus,  although  the  criminal  acts 
which  were  perpetrated  in  the  early  ages  of  our  race  were  quite  as  atrocious 
as  any  that  were  committed  in  subsequent  periods  ;  yet,  as  in  each  of  these 
periods  such  acts  proceeded  from  the  corruption  of  the  different  principles 
that  were  peculiar  to  each,  it  is  certain  that  there  must  have  been  a  difference 
in  the  quality  of  the  atrocities  which  prevailed  ;  and  consequently,  the  first 
dispensation,  in  this  respect,  must  have  been  more  enormous  than  those  that 


134  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

of  vipers."*  The  Lord's  bruising  the  serpent's  head,  then,  con- 
sisted in  liis  subduing  the  power  and  ascendancy  which  the 
sensual  principle  had  obtained.  He  did  this  by  opening  out 
fresh  influences  from  Himself,  which  are  called  "anew  and 
living  w^ay,"t  from  which  time  men  have  been  capable,  as  all 
history  attests,  of  thinking  and  acting  from  higher  grounds  than 
they  had  done  previously,  and  thereby  of  discovering  and  expos- 
ing the  fraud  and  deceptions  Avhich  the  merely  sensual  nature 
would  impose  upon  us.  This  is  what  is  implied  in  the  promise 
made  unto  believers,  namely,  ' '  I  will  give  you  power  to  tread 
on  serpents";!  " they  shall  take  up  serpents. "§  Power  over 
these  things  naturally,  was  originally  vouchsafed;  nor  is  there 
any  intimation  of  its  having  been  lost  by  man's  transgression: 
on  the  contrary,  we  find  savage  nations  display  it  with  consider- 
able energy.  The  Lord  did  not  come  into  the  world  for  such  a 
purpose.  The  power  to  tread  on  serpents,  which  he  then  con- 
ferred, was  a  power  to  subdue  our  sensual  nature;  and  the 
power  to  take  up  serpents,  was  the  ability  to  elevate  our  sensual 
nature,  by  placing  it  under  the  purifying  influences  and  direct- 
ing energies  of  the  loftier  principles  of  spirituality  and  religion. 
There  are  several  historical  narratives  in  Avhich  serpents  are 
mentioned  in  a  truly  literal  sense.  In  those  cases,  however, 
their  representation  is  the  same  as  that  which  they  sustain  in 
factitious  history;  consequently,  they  may  be  cited  as  affording 
confirmatory  evidence  of  it.  For  instance,  the  rod  of  Aaron,  on 
the  occasion  of  his  interview  with  Pharaoh,  is  stated  to  have 
been  cast  down,  and  it  became  a  serpent.  ||  Because  the  rod  of 
Aaron  denoted  the  power  of  spiritual  good,  by  casting  it  down 

followed  :  the  people  sinned  with  more  open  eyes,  and  so  brought  ruin  upon 
a  more  interior  principle  than  any  of  the  rest ;  hence  that  dispensation 
perished  in  a  catastrophe  more  terrible  than  any  of  the  rest.  So,  when  it  is 
said  that  the  fall  of  man  was  not  completed  until  "the  Lord  God  of  Israel 
visited  to  redeem  his  people,"  the  meaning  is  that  at  that  time  the  lowest 
of  the  remaining  human  principles  had  been  forced  into  its  final  corruption  ; 
that  "darkness  covered  the  earth,  and  gross  darkness  the  people."  The 
enormities  of  the  ancient  world,  therelbre,  oppose  no  real  difficulties  to  the 
doctrine  which  maintains  that  the  fall  did  not  reach  its  deepest  depths  until 
"God  became  manifest  in  the  flesh." 

*  Matt,  xxiii.  33.  f  Heb.  x.  20.  |  Luke  x.  19. 

^  Mark  xvi.  18.  11  Exod.  vii.  10-12. 


THE    BRAZEN    SERPENT.  135 

was  signified  its  degradation;  and  by  its  becoming  a  serpent 
was  represented,  that  such  a  power,  with  the  Egyptians,  had 
become  altogether  sensual.  The  circumstance  of  the  rods  of 
the  magicians  also  l^ecoming  serpents,  was  a  confirmation  of 
that  truth  which  the  transaction  of  Aaron  had  representatively 
revealed;  and  the  rod  of  Aaron  swallowing  up  those  of  the 
magicians,  was  a  farther  representative  revelation  that  such 
disorderly  power  would  be  taken  from  them. 

When  the  people  of  Israel  "spake  against  God  and  against 
Moses,  fiery  serpents  were  sent  among  them,  so  that  much  people 
of  Israel  died."  This  was  done  to  represent  the  sensual  loves 
with  which  they  were  beset,  and  through  the  influences  of  which 
so  many  of  mankind  spiritually  perish.  Moses,  complying 
with  a  divine  command,  ' '  made  a  serpent  of  brass,  and  put  it 
•  upon  a  pole :  and  it  came  to  pass,  that  if  a  serpent  had  bitten 
any  man,  when  he  beheld  the  serpent  of  brass,  he  lived. ' '  * 
Every  one  must  perceive  that  this  was  done  for  a  representative 
purpose.  It  is  evident  from  the  circumstance  of  the  Lord  hav- 
ing said,  concerning  it,  ' '  As  Moses  lifted  up  the  serpent  in  the 
wilderness,  even  so  must  the  Son  of  man  be  lifted  up :  that  who- 
soever believeth  in  him  should  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting 
life. ' '  t  The  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  as  to  the  good  of  his  sensual 
nature,  was  signified  by  the  brazen  serpent.  Ho  was  so  repre- 
sented before  the  Israelites,  because  they  were  merely  in  a  sen- 
sual state,  and  did  not  elevate  their  thoughts  concerning  God 
above  that  low  condition.     Its  being  lifted  upon  a  pole,  signified 

*  Numb.  xxi.  5-9. 

t  John  iii.  14,  15.  This  passage  is  commonly  regarded  as  a  prefiguration 
of  the  crucifixion  of  Jesus  Christ,  which  men  are  to  believe  was  a  suffering 
substituted  for  that  which  is  due  to  their  own  guilt !  But  the  student 
whose  mind  has  not  been  preoccupied  with  that  idea,  will  find  it  difficult  to 
establish  any  analogy  between  such  a  supposed  type  and  antetype.  Surely 
there  is  no  correspondence  between  Moses,  who  lifted  up  the  serpent,  and  the 
wicked  authorities  who  crucified  Jesus  !  nor  can  anything  but  fancy  find  any 
resemblance  between  the  pole  and  the  cross.  There  is  nothing  answering  to 
the  crown  of  thorns,  the  nails,  the  spear,  &c.,  &c.  The  reason  is,  that  it 
was  not  such  a  type.  The  raising  of  the  brazen  serpent  related  to  the  glori- 
fication of  the  Lord,  but  the  crucifixion  to  the  humiliation  of  the  Lord:  these 
were  two  distinct  acts  connected  with  his  manifestation  in  the  world  for  the 
redemption  of  mankiifd. 


136  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

the  glorification  of  the  Lord's  sensual  nature.  For  those  who 
were  bitten  by  the  serpent  to  look  upon  that  which  was  of  brass, 
and  receive  a  cure,  denoted  that  those  who  feel  the  stings  and 
wounds  inflicted  by  sensual  loves,  and  look  up  to  the  Lord  for 
deliverance,  will  be  sure  to  receive  the  communication  of  spirit- 
ual life  for  effecting  it. 

Other  cases  could  be  easily  adduced,  and,  like  the  above, 
summarily  explained;  but  what  has  been  observed  must  make 
it  evident  that  the  serpent  of  Eden  was  the  sensual  principle  of 
the  Adamic  people,  and  that  its  temptations  consisted  in  pre- 
senting before  their  higher  faculties  the  fascinations  of  worldly 
objects  and  delights;  so  that,  in  process  of  time,  their  higher 
principles  and  powers  were  seduced  to  favour  them,  and  being 
lulled  into  a  forgetfulness  of  superior  duties,  they  gradually 
sunk  into  the  indulgence  of  their  lower  principles,  irrespective- 
of  a  higher  guidance,  and,  therefore,  lost  possession  of  their 
intelligence;  and  this  is  what  is  meant  by  their  expulsion  from 
the  garden. 

This  view  of  the  subject  presents  the  narrative  to  us  in  an  in- 
telligible form.  It  comes  home,  in  a  good  measure,  to  our 
experience;  we  see  its  reasonableness,  and  at  once  recognize  the 
subtlety  *  of  the  serpent  in  the  occasional  experience  of  its  sug- 
gestions; also  the  fallacious  aspect  under  which  it  presents 
worldly  and  selfish  ends.  We  perceive  that  its  influence  must 
be  attended  with  a  fatal  withdrawing  from  all  spiritual  good, 
unless  it  be  vigilantly  watched  and  carefully  resisted.  It  reasons 
fallaciously,  because  the  materials  of  its  argument  are  drawn 
from  the  things  of  time  and  sense.  It  does  not  consult  the  inner 
dictate  and  superior  suggestions  of  the  mind.  The  sensual  man 
says,  "This  is  my  nature;  Avhy  should  I  resist  its  propensities, 
and  not  enjoy  the  pleasures  which  they  promise  ?  God,  if  there 
be  such  a  being,  must  have  given  them  to  me,  and  certainly  I 
cannot  sin  against  him  when  I  use  them."  These  deceptive 
reasonings  illustrate  the  serpent  saying,  ' '  Ye  shall  not  surely 
die."  But  how  transparent  is  the  subtlety  of  such  suggestions! 
Although  God  has  given  to  man  a  sensual  nature,  because  he 
was   to  be   a  resident   in  a   physical  world,   3'et  it   was  given 

*  The  original  word  translated  "subtle,"  tbongli  it  may  denote  insidious- 
uess  and  craft,  yet  here  it  rather  means  tlic  jujwer  to  insinuate  and  ingratiate. 


EXAMPLES    OF    SENSUAL    REASONINGS.  137 

in  connection  with  superior  powers,  and  was  intended  to  be 
employed  under  the  direction  of  higlier  principles  than  itself. 
Again,  the  serpent  is  reported  to  have  said,  ' '  In  the  day  that 
ye  eat  of  the  forbidden  fruit  your  eyes  shall  be  opened,  and  ye 
shall  be  as  gods,  knowing  good  and  evil. ' '  To  eat  of  the  for- 
bidden fruit  is  plainly  to  transgress  a  given  law.  The  tree  of 
knowledge  is  a  divine  gift,  by  which  men  are  enabled  to  per- 
ceive the  truths  of  faith:  the  fruit  of  this  tree  is  the  good  of 
life.  When  men,  from  sensual  persuasions,  are  led  to  think 
that  any  virtues  they  may  possess  are  self-derived,  they  eat  of 
the  fruit  of  the  tree  of  knowledge:  they  believe  their  eyes  are 
open,  because  they  can  see  with  approbation  the  delights  of 
the  world;  and  they  conceive  that  they  are  as  gods,  knowing 
good  and  evil,  because  they  think  they  guide  themselves  in  the 
prudence  they  observe:  but  these  are  fallacies  utterly  destructive 
of  all  genuine  faith  in  spiritual  and  celestial  things! 

Look  at  the  effects  of  such  reasonings  as  they  are  exhibited  in 
worldly  and  sensually  guided  men.  "Who  are  so  strongly  per- 
suaded as  these,  that  their  eyes  have  been  opened  by  having 
abandoned  the  teachings  of  religion,  and  plunged  into  the  fas- 
cinations of  the  world  ?  ' '  They  think  that  as  gods  they  are 
wise,  knowing  good  and  evil,  because  they  may  be  capable  of 
distinguishing  between  the  pains  and  pleasures  of  sense;  and  yet 
who,  in  reality,  are  as  blind  as  they  to  all  the  knowledges  which 
relate  to  spirituality,  futurity,  and  heaven  ?  They,  do  not 
acknowledge  an  eternal  life,  for  they  believe  that  when  they  die 
they  end:  neither  do  they  acknowledge  the  Lord,  but  worship 
only  themselves  and  nature.  Those  amongst  them  who  wish  to 
be  guarded  in  their  expressions,  say  that  there  is  a  Supreme 
Being,  of  whose  nature  they  are  ignorant,  and  who  rules  over 
all.  These  are  the  principles  in  which  they  confirm  themselves 
by  numerous  sensual  and  scientific  arguments,  and  if  they 
dared,  they  would  openly  proclaim  these  views  before  all  man- 
kind. Such  persons,  although  they  desire  to  be  regarded  as 
gods,  or  as  the  wisest  of  beings,  would,  if  they  were  asked  what 
it  was  not  to  love  themselves,  reply  that  it  was  the  same  thing 
as  to  have  no  existence.  The  idea  of  living  from  the  Lord  they 
conceive  to  be  a  mere  phantasy;  and  if  interrogated  as  to  their 
knowledge  of  conscience,  they  would  say  it  is  a  mere  creation 


138  THE   WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

of  the  imagination,  which  may  be  serviceable  in  keeping  the 
vulgar  under  restraint:  if  interrogated  as  to  their  knowledges 
of  perception,  they  would  laugh  at  your  question,  and  call  it 
enthusiastic.  Such  is  their  wisdom;  such  open  eyes  they  have, 
and  such  gods  they  are :  on  these  principles,  which  they  imagine 
clearer  than  the  day,  they  ground  all  their  reasonings  and  con- 
clusions concerning  the  mysteries  of  faith;  and  Avhat  can  be 
the  result  but  an  abyss  of  darkness  ?  These  are  the  serpents, 
above  all  others,  who  seduced  the  world.  "*  This  principle, 
having  gained  a  successive  influence  over  the  Adamic  people, 
caused  their  fall.  It  may  Ijc  questioned  whether  the  generation 
with  whom  its  seductions  began,  descended  into  all  the  enormi- 
ties contemplated  in  the  above  extract,  though  there  can  be  no 
doubt  that  they  were  fearfully  realized  1)y  their  posterity  before 
the  flood. 

*Arcaua  Cuilestia,  200. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

THE  EATING  OF  THE  FORBIDDEN  FRUIT,  AND  EXPULSION 
FROM  EDEN. 

"  'Twas  man  himself 
Brought  Death  into  the  world:  and  man  himself 
Gave  keenness  to  his  darts,  quickened  his  pace, 
And  multiplied  destruction  on  mankind." 

Dr.  Porteus,  Bishop  of  London. 

From  the  considerations  which  have  been  adduced,  we  learn 
that  the  people,  treated  of  under  the  collective  name  of  Adam, 
were  distinguished  by  a  variety  of  principles,  the  whole  of 
which,  during  their  integrity,  existed  in  order  and  operated 
for  happiness.  The  sensual  principle  was  among  the  lowest  of 
this  variety;  the  circumstance  of  its  existing  upon  the  outer- 
most range  of  the  mind,  and,  as  it  were,  dwelling  so  close  upon 
the  world,  is  the  reason  why  it  is  described  as  being  more  subtle 
than  any  beast  of  the  field.  Hence  it  was  seen  that  the  ten- 
dency of  this  principle  was  outwards  and  downwards,  in  like 
manner  as  the  desires  of  the  higher  principles  were  inwards  and 
upwards;  consequently  man,  by  the  freedom  of  his  nature,  was 
capable  of  giving  ascendancy  to  either,  by  cultivating  the  one 
in  preference  to  the  other;  therefore  the  success  of  the  serpent's 
temptation  consisted  in  man's  sensual  nature  favouring  the 
excitement  induced  upon  it  from  without.  It  has  also  been 
intimated  that  this  catastrophe  was  not  a  sudden  but  a  succes- 
sive work;  that  it  began  by  inducing  inclination  to  prefer  the 
outer  pleasures  of  the  world  to  the  inward  delights  of  heavenly 
things;  then  by  insinuating  doubts  as  to  the  existence  of  things 
spiritual,  because  they  could  not  be  seen  or  handled  by  the 
physical  senses;  next^  by  suggesting  that  natural  things  might 
be  the  only  realities,  because  they  only  came  under  the  cogni- 

139 


140  THE   WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

zance  of  the  eye  and  the  touch;  and,  at  length,  by  producing  the 
consent  of  the  inner  powers  to  the  indulgences  of  sensual  love. 
Such  we  conceive  to  have  been  the  general  process  of  the  temp- 
tation, and  the  transgression  finally  induced.  The  period  which 
was  occupied  in  this  decline  and  fall  is  not  announced.  Still 
there  can  be  no  reasonable  doubt  that  it  was  the  work  of  several 
generations.  It  is  the  existence  of  the  fact,  rather  than  the 
period  occupied  in  its  production,  which  it  is  of  imp(jrtance  to 
know. 

Having  these  general  views  of  the  superior  state  of  man,  and 
the  way  of  his  decline  and  fall,  before  us,  we  can  now  proceed 
to  investigate  the  nature  of  the  law  he  is  stated  to  have  broken 
by  that  transaction.  It  is  thus  written :  "Of  every  tree  of  the 
garden  thou  may  est  freely  eat:  but  of  the  tree  of  the  knowledge 
of  good  and  evil,  thou  shalt  not  eat  of  it:  for  in  the  day  that 
thou  eatest  thereof  thou  shalt  surely  die.  "*  The  manner  in 
which  it  was  transgressed,  though  cited  in  the  preceding  chapter 
for  the  sake  of  having  the  whole  transaction  then  before  us,  was 
not  there  explained:  for  this  purpose  it  is  now  again  produced. 
"When  the  woman  saw  that  the  tree  was  good  for  food,  and 
that  it  was  pleasant  to  the  eyes,  and  a  tree  to  be  desired  to  make 
one  wise,  she  took  of  the  fruit  thereof,  and  did  eat,  and  gave 
also  unto  her  husband;  and  he  did  eat.  And  the  eyes  of  them 
both  were  opened,  and  they  knew  that  they  were  naked. — There- 
fore the  Lord  sent  him  forth  from  the  garden  of  Eden,  to  till 
the  ground  from  whence  he  was  taken,  "f  Eating  is  the  act 
forbidden,  and  we  think  it  much  more  natural  to  regard  it  as 
the  interdiction  of  some  irregular  process  of  the  mind  tluin  as 
the  prohibition  of  a  particular  act  of  the  body.  If  a  physical 
act  were  intended  by  the  proscription,  surely  we  may  fairly  ask 
why  the  tree  was  placed  in  the  garden  ?  Why  it  should  have 
appeared  so  good  for  food,  pleasant  to  the  eyes,  and  a  tree  to  be 
desired  to  make  one  wise,  if,  after  all,  it  were  not  to  be  tasted  ? 
The  common  answer  to  these  inquiries  is,  that  it  was  jilanted  in 
the  garden  with  a  prohibitory  law,  to  test  the  fidelity  of  the 
parties  who  beheld  it.  But  who  does  not  perceive  tliat  this 
idea  makes  the  tree  a  stumbling-block,  and  God  the  tempter  for 

*Gen.  ii.  10,  17.  f  Gen.  iii.  6,  7,  23. 


THE    TREE    NOT    DESIGNED    TO    TEST    FIDELITY.  141 

having  put  it  there.*  It  plainly  represents  the  tree  as  a  temp- 
tation, and  supposes  God  not  to  have  foreseen  its  consequences. 
Surely  the  Lord  does  not  try  the  constancy  of  his  people  by 
giving  them,  upon  the  one  hand,  a  law  to  observe,  and,  on  the 
other  hand,  by  placing  in  their  way  a  temptation  to  transgress 
it.  The  supposition  is  shocking,  and  should  be  avoided.  .  The 
whole  notion  about  God  trying  the  fidelity  of  his  people,  by 
placing  them  in  difficult  circumstances,  requires  revision.  It 
is  an  apparent  and  not  a  genuine  truth. 

God  is  essential  goodness,  and  he  has  always  watched  over 
the  welfare  and  happiness  of  men  with  the  utmost  care:  he 
would  have  removed  the  fruit  out  of  Adam's  reach,  and  hin- 
dered the  serpent  from  persuading  him  to  eat  it,  if  they  had  been 
things  extraneous  to  his  nature.  But  they  were  not;  they  w^ere 
things  which  belonged  to  him  as  a  man,  and  to  have  removed 
them  would  have  been  to  have  taken  away  his  manhood.  This 
sensual  principle  was  necessary  to  complete  his  nature,  and  fit 
him  for  residing  in  the  world:  the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil 
was  necessary  to  encourage  him  in  the  way  of  obedience,  and  to 
act  as  a  hindrance  to  his  transgression.  Freedom  was  indis- 
pensable to  employ  those  knowledges  agreeably  to  his  OAvn 
choice.  How  could  a  man  be  a  man  without  a  sensual  prin- 
ciple !  How  little  would  man  have  been  distinguished  from 
the  brute  if  he  had  been  deprived  of  the  knowledge  of  good  and 
evil !  and  without  freedom  he  would  have  been  a  mere  creature 
of  impulsive  instinct. 

Adam  was  endowed  with  all  these  excellencies.  He  possessed 
information  of  the  highest  kind.  He  was  in  the  life  of  obedi- 
ence, and  so  in  the  knowledge  of  good;  thence  he  would  have  a 
perception  of  its  opposite,  and  so  acquire  the  knowledge  of  evil. 
This  was  a  tree  distinguished  among  the  other  intelligences  of 
his  intellectual  garden.     It  was  an  enlarged  possession  of  genuine 

*  Byron,  in  his  terrible  poem,  "Cain,"  makes  him  say,  in  reference  to  the 
temptation  of  Adam, — 

"The  tree  was  planted,  and  not  for  him ? 
If  not,  why  place  hira  near  it,  where  it  grew, 
The  fairest  in  the  centre?    They  have  but 
One  answer  to  all  questions,  '  'Twas  his  will, 
And  he  is  good.'  " 


142  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

knowledge,  proper  to  his  high  condition.  But  he  was  not  to  eat 
thereof.  Eating  was  the  prohibited  act.  Why  was  this,  when 
he  was  so  freely  permitted  to  eat  of  every  other  tree  ?  We  shall 
find  the  answer  to  this  interrogatory  if  we  consider  the  signifi- 
cation of  the  term. 

That  it  does  not  mean  natural  eating  is  evident,  because  taste 
is  the  chief  species  of  knowledge  which  it  is  capable  of  induc- 
ing, and  that  is  among  the  lowest  class.  The  notion  of  the  fruit 
having  possessed  some  property  that  was  capable  of  exciting  the 
mind  to  greater  action,  and  so  to  procure  additional  informa- 
tion, we  think  to  be  unworthy  of  a  serious  thought.  Stimu- 
lants will  inflame  the  imagination,  but  they  do  not  increase  our 
wisdom  !  They  may  excite  and  disorder  the  mind,  but  they 
cannot  increase  and  strengthen  it.  Surely  knowledges,  superior 
to  those  which  Adam  in  his  integrity  possessed,  were  not  to  be 
procured  by  the  eating  of  some  peculiar  fruit !  If  so,  Adam 
could  not  have  been  so  wise  as  is  supposed,  because  there  were 
certain  knowledges  withheld  from  him,  and  which  the  fruit  of 
some  remarkable  tree  was  capable  of  furnishing.  But  what 
dreams  are  these  !  * 

Eating  is  a  term  of  frequent  occurrence  in  the  Scriptures, 
and,  in  the  really  historical  portion  of  them,  it  literally  denotes 
what  it  expresses;  but  there  are  many  occasions  on  which  the 
word  is  used  without  such  meaning;  yet  in  every  instance  it  has 
an  internal  sense.  We  select  the  following  examples.  The 
Lord  said,  "I  am  the  living  bread  which  came  down  from 
heaven :  if  any  man  eat  of  this  bread  he  shall  live  for  ever. ' ' 
' '  Except  ye  eat  the  flesh  of  the  Son  of  man,  and  drink  his 
blood,  ye  have  no  life  in  you. "  "  He  that  eateth  me,  even  he 
shall  live  by  me."t  In  these  sentences,  it  is  plain,  that  by  eat- 
ing is  not  meant  eating,  but  that  internal  act  of  the  mind  by 
which  it  appropriates,  in  an  orderly  way,  the  good  things  of 
religion,  and  thereby  acquires  spiritual  nutrition  for  the  sus- 
tenance of  the  soul.  It  was  for  the  same  reason  that  the  Lord 
said  by  the  prophet,  "  Hearken  diligently  unto  me,  and  eat  ye 
that  which  is  good,  and  let  3'our  soul  delight  itself  in  fatness.  "| 
The  Lord  also  said,  "  To  him  that  overcometh  will  I  give  to  eat 
of   the  tree  of   life,   which  is  in   the  midst  of  the  paradise  of 

*  See  pp.  77,  78.  f  Jol'Q  ^''-  •''>1,  5:5,  57.  J  Isa.  Iv.  2. 


SIGNIFICATION    OF    EATING.  143 

God ' '  :*  where,  by  the  tree  of  life,  is  meant  the  perception  of 
love;  for  love  is  a  fruit-bearing  principle  with  men;  and  this  is 
said  to  be  in  the  midst  of  the  paradise  of  God,  when  it  is  made 
the  centre  of  all  the  religious  duties  of  the  Church;  while  to  eat 
of  the  tree,  clearly  means  to  appropriate  the  perception  of  love 
to  our  spiritual  use  and  benefit.  The  act  of  eating,  as  of  natural 
food  for  the  nutrition  of  the  body,  is  named,  because  it  corre- 
sponds to  the  act  of  appropriating  spiritual  good  for  the  suste- 
nance of  the  soul.  There  is  a  food  for  the  mind  as  well  as  for 
the  body.  The  soul  must  be  fed  with  the  good  of  love,  in  order 
that  it  may  live  in  spiritual  health,  in  like  manner  as  the  body 
must  be  supported  with  the  bread  of  nature,  in  order  to  main- 
tain its  physical  vigour.  The  love  of  what  is  good,  and  the 
perceptions  thence  arising,  were  the  food  by  which  Adam  was 
instructed  to  sustain  his  eminent  condition :  this  is  what  is  meant 
by  that  portion  of  the  law  which  says,  "  Of  every  tree  of  the 
garden  thou  mayest  freely  eat ' ' :  the  reasons  for  the  exception 
will  presently  appear. 

Every  one  is,  as  to  his  internal  quality,  precisely  what  his 
love  is:  it  is  this,  with  its  consequent  perception,  which  consti- 
tutes his  individuality.  A  man's  character  springs  from  his 
love,  and  he  is  judged  and  estimated  according  to  the  nature  of 
its  quality  and  developments.  This  love  and  perception  are, 
as  to  the  individuality  which  they  form,  the  man's  own:  they 
distinguish  one  man  from  another.  In  this  respect  each  one  is 
himself  alone.  He  has  a  distinctiveness  of  nature  which  belongs 
to  no  one  else,  and  this  is  acquired  by  his  having  appropriated, 
incorporated,  cherished,  or  spiritually  eaten  of  some  peculiar 
love.  If  it  were  not  so  appropriated,  it  would  pass  away  and 
vanish.  It  is  only  by  such  appropriation  that  his  individuality 
remains.  As  he  appropriates  good  in  any  of  its  varieties,  the 
distinctiveness  of  character  thereby  imparted  cannot  perish.  So 
that  he  may  "  eat  of  every  tree  of  the  garden,  but  of  the  tree  of 
knowledge  of  good  and  evil  he  must  not  eat  of  it' ' ;  this  is  for- 
bidden for  reasons  which  regard  his  truest  welfare. 

The  knowledge  of  the  spiritual  things  of  faith,  duty,  and 
heaven,  is  not  of  man;  it  is  the  Lord's.  It  is  communicated  to 
the  Avoiid  by  revelation,  either  through  an  internal  dictate  to  its 

*  Rev.  ii.  7. 


144  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

immediate  subjects,  or  by  means  of  a  written  Word.  Without 
such  revelation,  man  must  have  been  utterly  ignorant  of  such 
knowledge.  Every  one  may  be  sure,  if  he  be  so  disposed,  that 
all  his  knowledge  of  such  things  has  come  to  him  from  a  source 
superior  to  himself.  He  feels  that  he  is  incompetent  for  such 
discoveries,  and,  therefore,  that  he  ought  to  live  under  the  con- 
tinual acknowledgment,  that  all  he  knows  of  holy  and  religious 
things  is  not  from  himself,  but  from  the  Lord. 

Now,  as  eating  is  significant  of  mental  appropriation,  to  eat 
of  the  tree  of  knowledge  denotes  that  mental  appropriation  of  it, 
by  which  men  are  led  to  believe  that  it  is  the  result  of  their  own 
self-derived  intelligence.  Adam  was  forbidden  to  eat  of  it,  in 
order  to  guard  against  this  consequence;  therefore,  we  cease  to 
wonder  at  the  prohibition.  We  see  that  it  was  done  for  a  wise 
and  merciful  purpose,  and  designed  as  a  medium  for  preserving 
man  in  the  humble  acknowledgment  of  the  Lord,  as  the  source 
and  giver  of  all  intelligence  and  truth;  also,  to  teach  him,  that 
if  he  ceased  from  such  acknowledgment,  he  would  necessarily 
fall  into  transgression.  Is  it  not  so?  Do  not  those  who  are 
wise  in  their  own  conceits,  who  pride  themselves  upon  their 
presumed  intelligence,  and  consider  it  as  a  meritorious  acquisi- 
tion of  their  own,  reject  the  Lord,  and  so  transgress  his  law? 

But  there  is  another  important  reason  why  the  eating  of  the 
tree  of  knowledge  was  prohibited.  Knowledge  is  a  means  to  an 
end.  It  is  given  for  the  improvement  and  formation  of  charac- 
ter. The  more  eminent  the  knowledge  is,  if  applied  to  life,  the 
more  exalted  is  the  man.  All  knowledge  has  respect  to  life, 
and  it  is  intended  for  the  promotion  and  establishment  of  good. 
Therefore,  to  eat  of  the  tree  of  knowledge  is  to  appropriate 
information  for  the  enlargement  of  the  understanding  merely, 
without  due  regard  to  its  holier  uses.  How  frequently  is  that 
which  is  denominated  genius,  found  to  be  disorderly  !  How 
often  are  clever  men  discovered  to  be  crafty!  Does  it  not  some- 
times occur,  that  men  with  enlarged  understandings  have  nar- 
row souls  and  selfish  hearts  ?  Is  it  not  true  that  learned  men 
are  sometimes  wicked  ?  that  they  perpetrate  their  ills  with 
sagacity — "plate  their  sins  with  gold"?  Doubtless  these  are 
facts;  but  whence  do  they  arise?  Simply  because  such  men 
have  eaten  of  the  tree  of  knowledge,  devoured  information  with 


LAWFUL  TO  SEE,  BUT  NOT  TO  EAT  OF  THE  TREE.     145 

a  greedy  appetite,  regarding  knowledge  as  the  end,  and  desiring 
to  be  clever  rather  than  good.  The  mischievous  tendency  of 
such  a  course  is  evident.  It  places  the  perpetrator  in  the  posi- 
tion of  "that  servant  which  knew  his  Lord's  will,  and  prepared 
not  himself,  neither  did  according  to  his  will,  (and  who  there- 
fore) shall  be  beaten  with  many  stripes."*  How  Avise,  then,  is 
the  command,  "  Ye  shall  not  eat  of  it "  !  and  if  men  do  so,  how 
certain  is  their  fall — a  fall  into  a  criminal  neglect  of  the  laws  of 
order,  propriety,  integrity,  and  virtue  ! 

Does  not  experience  prove  that  this  is  the  course  which  the 
sensual  appetite  invariably  suggests?  It  desires  to  separate 
itself  from  superior  guidance,  and  to  be  left  to  its  own  control. 
It  strives  to  prevent  knowledge  from  exercising  its  salutary  in- 
fluences upon  the  lower  affections:  it  would  persuade  us  that  its 
only  province  is  the  head, — that  men  are  wise  in  many  things, 
because  they  know  something  of  a  few, — and  so  leave  the  heart 
untouched,  to  mistake  its  way.  Thus  we  conclude  that  the 
prohibition  was  founded  in  such  good  reasons  as  men  may  see 
the  value  of.  The  prohibition  is  as  binding  upon  us  as  it  was 
upon  Adam;  and  a  violation  of  the  command  will  also  be  at- 
tended with  fatal  consequences.  It  is  lawful  to  see  the  tree  of 
knowledge — to  comprehend  what  is  wise.  God  planted  it  for 
this  purpose;  but  to  eat  of  it  was  forbidden,  because  to  do  so 
would  be  to  regard  intellectual  sustenance  as  the  end  of  it,  and 
so  induce  a  state  which  would  permit  the  heart  to  grow  corrupt. 

But  the  tree  was  eaten  of,  and  this  consequence  resulted: 
still,  as  it  has  been  said,  it  was  not  accomplished  by  the  first 
sallies  of  the  tempter.  Men  who  have  attained  to  any  eminence 
in  virtue  do  not  fall  into  evil  on  the  first  excitement.  They 
think  upon  the  subject,  revolve  it  in  their  minds,  and  for  a 
period,  they,  to  some  extent,  resist  it:  but  by  and  by  they  in- 
cline towards,  and  afterwards  look  at  it  with  desire,  whereupon 
the  suggestions  of  the  higher  sense  are  weakened.  Then  they  ex- 
perience a  struggle  between  desire  and  duty,  and  give  way  only 
when  the  exciting  object  appears  to  the  affection  as  the  tree  of 
knowledge  did  to  the  woman,  namely,  "  as  good  for  food,  pleas- 
ant to  the  sight,  and  to  be  desired  to  make  one  wise. ' '  Men  do 
not  partake  of  that  which  is  forbidden  until  they  have  been 

*  Lnlce  xii.  47. 
12 


146  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

persuaded  it  is  good :  the}^  do  not  plunge  into  transgression  until 
the  delights  thereby  proposed  to  be  obtained  appear  somewhat 
pleasant  to  the  eye — that  is,  agreeable  to  the  illusion  under  which 
they  labour;  neither  do  they  enter  upon  a  career  of  guilt  until 
they  have  begun  to  cherish  it  as  a  means  to  something  that  is 
wise! 

These  are  the  circumstances  under  Avhich  men  in  general  pass 
into  the  perpetration  of  crime  in  these  our  days,  and  they  serve 
forcibly  to  illustrate  the  narrative  which  describes  the  process  of 
Adam's  guilt.  His  fall  was,  in  its  general  nature,  somewhat 
similar  to  that  of  ours  Avhen  we  are  tempted  into  transgression. 
The  principal  differences  lie  in  the  degrees  of  its  enormity.  He 
fell  into  evils  with  a  larger  amount  of  knowledge  than  it  is  our 
lot  to  possess:  he  began  to  decline  with  a  purity  of  character 
which  does  not  belong  to  us.  He  transgressed  with  more  open 
eyes,  and  sunk  into  an  abyss  from  a  loftier  summit  than  we 
have  ever  gained.  Hence  his  posterity,  in  a  few  generations, 
perished  in  that  terrible  calamity  described  as  a  flood. 

Having  descended  into  evil  by  the  process  we  have  indicated, 
he  must  needs  have  begun  to  view  all  moral  things  under  a  per- 
verted aspect:  and,  finally,  he  would  have  misgivings  as  to  the 
existence  of  spiritual  and  heavenly  things,  because  they  could 
not  be  conceived  of  sensually  and  scientifically:  the  result  of 
this  incredulity  was  the  inversion  and  overthrow  of  all  his  ex- 
cellence. Evil  was  thought  to  be  good,  and  falsehood  truth;  to 
describe  which  the  forbidden  fruit  is,  under  the  influence  of  the 
temptation,  said  to  have  appeared  ' '  as  good  for  food,  pleasant 
to  the  eye,  and  to  be  desired  to  make  one  wise. ' ' 

The  consideration  of  these  facts  will  aid  us  in  seeing  the 
rationale,  and  tracing  the  process  of  Adam's  fall.  We  at  once 
see  that  it  was  not  accomplished  by  a  talking  reptile  that  was 
out  of  man,  but  that  it  resulted  from  the  fallacious  reasonings  of 
the  sensual  principle  w^ithin  him,  the  existence  of  which  was 
proper  and  necessary  to  his  being.  These  fallacious  reasonings 
consisted  in  confirming  appearances  to  be  realities.  They  were 
small  in  their  beginnings,  but  fatal  in  their  growth  and  conse- 
quences. It  was  like  a  particle  of  dust  falling  upon  the  pupil 
of  the  eye,  and  preventing  it  from  seeing  the  things  of  nature 
with    certainty  and  clearness:  self-guidance  was  preferred  to  a 


PROGRESS    OF    GUILT    ILLUSTRATED.  147 

dependence  on  the  Lord,  concerning  which  tlic  pro})hct  says, 
"Woe  unto  them  that  call  evil  good,  and  good  evil;  that  put 
darkness  for  light,  and  light  for  darkness;  that  put  bitter  for 
sweet,  and  sweet  for  bitter!  Woe  unto  them  that  are  wise  in 
their  own  eyes,  and  prudent  in  their  own  sight!"  -'' 

Such  was  the  state  brought  about  by  a  seiies  of  perverse  sen- 
sual reasonings.  We  do  not  consider  it  to  have  been  the  work 
of  one  man,  or  of  the  first  generation,  but  as  a  result  consum- 
mated by  some  of  their  posterity  during  the  age  of  the  Adamic 
Church. 

But  this  state  led  to  other  consequences,  the  painful  nature  of 
which  may  also  be  illustrated  by  the  common  experience  of 
mankind.  All  know  that  there  was  a  period  in  their  personal 
history  when  they  had  not  fallen  into  the  actual  perpetration  of 
those  sins  which  now  so  easily  beset  them,  and  that  the  first 
effect  of  having  done  so  was  to  awaken  them  to  a  sense  of  the 
danger  they  had  incurred.  The  act  which  first  succeeds  a  deed 
of  guilt  is  timidly  to  look  about  to  ascertain  whether  it  has 
been  watched  by  others.  Conscience,  also,  by  its  pangs  in  after 
times,  effectually  proves  to  them  that  their  innocence  is  gone. 
These  experiences,  like  that  of  Adam,  open  their  eyes,  and  let 
them  know  that  they  are  naked.  To  open  their  eyes  meant  that 
they  noAV  saw  their  guilt;  and  to  know  that  they  were  naked 
denoted  a  consciousness  that  their  innocence  was  lost.  It  is 
well  known  that  the  Scriptures  speak  of  ' '  nakedness ' '  in  the 
sense  of  degradation,  f 

It  was  said  of  them  before  they  fell,  that  "they  were  naked 
and  not  ashamed,"  to  teach  that  they  were  innocent  and  felt  no 
guilt:  but  after  their  transgression,  they  saw  the  disaster  they 
had  incurred,  and  became  ashamed.  Where  there  is  no  inno- 
cence, nakedness  is  a  scandal  and  disgrace;  Ijut  it  is  not  so 
where  innocence  exists,  as  in  the  case  of  infants;  here,  there- 
fore, nakedness  is  the  symbol  of  innocence.  But  to  know  it 
with  shame,  as  in  the  case  *of  Adam,  implies  the  presence  of  a 
sense  of  guilt;  consequently,  he  was  sent  "forth  from  the 
garden  of  Eden,  to  till  the  ground  from  whence  he  was  taken." 

To  be  sent  forth  from  Eden  was  not  an  arbitrary  act  of  the 
Almighty:  he  does  not  deprive  man  of  nny  felicity  which  he  is 
*Isa.  V.  20,  21.  fRev.  iii.  17. 


148  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

qualified  to  enjoy;  and,  therefore,  his  expulsion  from  paradise 
was  a  natural  consequence,  arising  from  the  unfavourable  change 
which  had  now  taken  place  in  his  character.  His  position  in 
Eden,  as  shown  in  the  preceding  chapter,  denoted  the  pleasure 
and  delight  which  arose  from  an  orderly  love;  but  of  these  his 
transgression  necessarily  deprived  him.  It  was  his  own  act. 
By  listening  to  the  suggestions  of  his  sensual  nature,  and 
misusing  his  freedom,  he  withdrew  himself  from  the  sacred 
influences  of  genuine  goodness,  just  as  *the  vicious  are  still 
known  to  keep  aloof  from  virtuous  society. 

But  although  Eden  is  necessarily  lost  to  every  man  who 
transgresses  the  rules  and  discipline  of  virtue,  yet  he  is  watched 
over  with  unabating  diligence  by  the  diviile  mercy  of  the  Lord. 
"Though  a  good  man  fall,"  says  the  Psalmist,  "he  shall  not 
be  utterly  cast  down."  *  Adam  was  preserved  in  a  condition 
to  "  till  the  ground  from  whence  he  was  taken."  Providence 
does  not  abandon  the  sinner;  it  is  always  benignant  and  merci- 
ful: it  reminds  him  that  all  the  virtues  which  he  might  have 
possessed  were  communicated  graces,  and  that  they  were  sown 
into  his  nature,  specially  created  for  their  reception,  by  teaching 
and  training.  Man  is  lifted  into  spiritual  eminence  by  culti- 
vating the  moral  ground  in  which  he  may  be  placed.  This  was 
the  ground  whence  Adam  had  risen  into  the  distinction  he 
attained:  he  fell,  and  so  passed  back  to  it  again:  but  he  was 
not  then  forgotten;  he  was  taught  a  duty — he  .was  "to  till  the 
ground  from  whence  he  was  taken."  In  other  words,  he  was 
to  cultivate  the  ground  from  which  he  had  risen,  and  to  which 
he  had  descended,  by  the  inseminating  of  truths  into  it;  to 
watch  over  their  growth  with  solicitude  and  care;  to  be  atten- 
tive to  the  fruits  they  were  intended  to  produce,  and  thus  strive 
to  regain  the  eminence  he  had  lost.  The  capacity  to  do  so  was 
still  preserved  in  him,  and  perpetuated  to  all  his  posterity. 

*Psa.  xxxvii.  23,  24. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

THE  CURSE  UPON  THE  SERPENT  — THE  SORROWS  OF  THE 
WOMAN— AND  THE  CURSE  UPON  THE  GROUND  FOR  MAN'S 
SAKE. 

"God  made  not  death:  neither  hath  he  pleasure  in  the  destruction  of  the  living. 
For  he  created  all  things,  that  they  might  have  their  being:  and  the  generations 
of  the  world  were  healthful;  and  there  is  no  poison  of  destruction  in  them,  nor 
the  kingdom  of  death  upon  them  :  but  ungodly  men  with  their  works  and  words 
called  it  to  them." — Wisd.  i.  13-16. 

The  circumstances  of  the  fall  of  Adam  and  his  expulsion  from 
Eden  were  attended  by  other  calamities,  to  which  it  is  requisite 
to  refer.  A  curse  was  pronounced  upon  the  serpent;  the  sor- 
rows of  the  woman,  in  conception  and  parturition,  were  to  be 
multiplied,  and  the  ground  was  cursed,  that  man  might  eat  of  it 
in  toil  and  sorrow  all  the  days  of  his  life.  These  subjects  are 
thus  set  forth  in  the  sacred  narrative: — 

"And  the  Lord  God  said  unto  the  serpent.  Because  thou  hast 
done  this,  thou  art  cursed  above  all  cattle,  and  above  every 
beast  of  the  field;  upon  thy  belly  shalt  thou  go,  and  dust  shalt 
thou  eat  all  the  days  of  thy  life:  and  I  will  put  enmity  between 
thee  and  the  woman,  and  between  thy  seed  and  her  seed:  it 
shall  bruise  thy  head,  and  thou  shalt  bruise  his  heel.  Unto  the 
woman  he  said,  I  will  greatly  multiply  thy  sorrow  and  thy 
conception;  in  sorrow  shalt  thou  bring  forth  children;  and  thy 
desire  shall  be  to  thy  husband,  and  he  shall  rule  over  thee. 
And  unto  Adam  he  said.  Because  thou  hast  hearkened  unto  the 
voice  of  thy  wife,  and  hast  eaten  of  the  tree,  of  which  I  com- 
manded thee,  saying,  Thou  shalt  not  eat  of  it:  cursed  is  the 
ground  for  thy  sake;  in  sorrow  shalt  thou  eat  of  it  all  the  days 
of  thy  life.  Thorns  and  thistles  shall  it  bring  forth  to  thee;  and 
thou  shalt  eat  the  herb  of  the  field.  In  the  sweat  of  thy  face 
shalt  thou  eat  bread,  till  thou  return  unto  the  ground."* 

*  Gen.  iii.  14-19. 
149 


150  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

The  leading  idea  presented  in  this  narrative  is  the  curse.  In 
what  sense  is  this  to  be  understood?  That  disastrous  conse- 
quences followed  the  transgression  cannot  be  dou);)ted:  but  were 
they  the  natural  results  of  disobedience,  or  the  specific  inflic- 
tions of  the  Almighty  ?  The  latter  is  the  common  idea,  though 
the  history  does  not  say  so.  To  the  serpent,  God  said,  "  Thou 
art  cursed  above  all  cattle  ";  and  to  the  man  he  said,  "  Cursed 
is  the  ground  for  thy  sake  "  :  thus  it  simply  represents  God  as 
declaring  its  existence,  and  not  as  producing  it.  He  mercifully 
revealed  the  state,  but  did  not  inflict  the  misery.  Calamity 
follows  sin  as  death  does  poison;  but  as  God  does  not  originate 
the  sin,  or  administer  the  poison,  he  cannot  be  chargeable  with 
the  calamity  or  the  death.  Although  he  is  described  as  saying 
to  the  woman,  "  I  will  greatly  multiply  thy  sorrows,"  under 
certain  events;  yet  it  was  not  the  sorrow,  considered  in  itself, 
but  the  multiplication  of  it,  which  was  the  evil  announced.  Sor- 
row, it  would  appear,  attended  these  events  under  the  best  con- 
dition of  humanity,  yet  it  was  to  be  increased;  and  God  is  rep- 
resented as  its  author:  but,  under  the  circumstances,  may  not 
this  have  been  a  blessing.?  We  can  easily  conceive  a  wise 
Providence  placing  difficulties  in  the  way  of  attaining  what  a 
degenerate  mind  thinks  to  be  desirable,  in  order  to  promote  some 
genuine  good.  Pains  and  trials  are  no  proofs  of  God's  displeas- 
ure; we  know  that  they  tend  to  soften,  humiliate,  and  bless; 
and,  tlierofore,  the  multiplying  of  the  woman's  sorrows  may 
come  within  the  scope  of  mercy  rather  than  malediction. 

An  idea  that  God  became  angry  with  the  human  race  when 
the  first  man  transgressed,  very  extensively  prevails.  The  above 
passages  are  considered  to  declare  it.  But  this  cannot  be  cor- 
rect. Anger  is  no  attribute  of  God;  it  must  be  as  foreign  to  the 
Divine  Nature  as  sin  itself;  and,  therefore,  those  passages  of 
Scripture  in  Avhich  it  is  predicated  of  him  are  designed  rather  to 
express  the  aspect  under  which  he  appears  to  perverted  minds, 
than  to  declare  a  genuine  truth.  To  the  jaundiced  eye  all 
things  are  yellow;  but  they  are  not  really  so;  it  is  only  an 
appearance  arising  from  the  action  of  physical  disease.  The 
moral  disorders  of  men  cause  them  to  view  the  character  and 
providences  of  God  under  an  aspect  contrary  to  their  reality. 
We  never  read  of  God  being  angry,  or  declaring  a  curse,  but  in 


ANGER    NO    ATTRIBUTE    OF    GOD.  151 

connection  with  something  disobedient  on  the  part  of  man. 
Under  such  circumstances,  it  is  true  that  he  appears  angry,  3'et 
it  cannot  be  true  that  he  is  so.  If  we  desire  sensible  informa- 
tion concerning  the  felicities  of  heaven,  the  reasonable  course  is 
to  consult  those  who  have  experienced  some  antepast  of  its  hap- 
piness, through  obedience  to  its  laws.  How  unwise,  then,  is  it 
to  seek,  in  those  passages  of  the  Word  wdiich  are  addressed  to 
the  wicked  only  in  accommodation  to  their  perverted  views,  real 
truths  concerning  the  Divine  character  !  The  fire  by  which 
Sodom  was  destroyed  is  said  to  have  come  down  from  heaven;* 
but  heaven  is  not  really  the  reservoir  of  that  fire  which  punishes 
and  destroys  the  wicked;  nevertheless  it  is  so  said,  because  it  so 
appeared  to  that  abandoned  people.  In  God  there  is  no  furyrf 
and  the  Psalmist  says  of  him,  "With  the  upright  man  thou  wilt 
show  thyself  upright;  with  the  pure  thou  wilt  show  thyself 
pure;  and  with  the  froward  thou  wilt  show  thyself  froward.":|: 
If  God  were  angry  at  any  time,  he  would  be  imperfect,  for 
anger  is  an  infirmity  in  man.  If  he  were  once  angry,  he  must 
be  always  angry,  because  he  is  unchangeable.  If  he  be  at  all 
angry,  he  must  be  infinitely  so,  because  all  in  him  is  infinite. 
How  are  the  ideas  that  he  is  infinitely  angry  and  infinitely 
loving  to  be  reconciled  ?  It  cannot  be  done  so  long  as  both  are 
considered  to  be  realities. 

To  imagine  that  God  can  become  angry,  is  to  suppose  him 
liable  to  disappointment,  and,  consequently,  that  man  can  do 
something  which  He  had  not  foreseen.  But  how  impossible  is 
this!  The  whole  Scripture  is  constructed  on  the  principle  that 
' '  God  is  love ' ' :  this  attribute  is  infinite  in  him,  and  so  neces- 
sarily excludes  every  opposite  sentiment.  He  has  declared  that 
he  loveth  man  with  an  "  everlasting  love."  §  How,  then,  can  he 
be  angry,  and  curse  both  him  and  the  circumstances  in  which  he 
is  placed  ?  He  has  told  us  to  ' '  love  our  enemies,  to  bless  them 
that  curse  us,  and  do  good  to  them  that  hate  us. "  1 1  Can  we  doubt 
that  he  will  do  to  us  that  which  he  has  commanded  us  to  do  to 
one  another?  If  he  loved  only  those  who  loved  him,  he  would 
resemble  "sinners,  for  they  also  love  those  that  love  them."  ^ 

*  Gen.  xix.  24.  f  Isa.  xxvii.  4.  J  Psa.  xviii.  25,  26. 

^  Jer.  xxxi.  3.  ||  Matt.  v.  44.  ^  Luke  vi.  32. 


152     '  THE    WORD   AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

The  excellence  and  beauty  of  the  human  character  consist  in 
its  resemblance  to  the  divine  perfections.  "  Be  ye  perfect,  as 
your  Father  in  heaven  is  perfect "  ;*  "  Be  ye  mei'ciful,  as  your 
Father  in  heaven  is  merciful."  f  Still,  man's  highest  attain- 
ments in  these  imperishable  virtues  are  but  faint  shadows  and 
images  of  the  divine  purity.  In  him  every  excellence  is  infinite: 
nor  are  their  sweetness  and  placidity  to  be  disturbed;  their  im- 
mutability is  not  to  be  changed  by  human  disobedience.  God 
"  knoweth  our  frame,  and  remembereth  that  we  are  dust,"  J 
and,  with  this  knowledge  and  remembrance,  "his  mercy  en- 
dureth  for  ever. ' '  The  good  man  realizes  the  evidences  of  this 
fact  in  his  own  experience;  the  bad  man  does  not,  because  of 
his  perverted  nature.  All  the  displays  of  divine  love  are  to  in- 
duce men  to  become  wise  and  happ3^  The  wicked  are  made  to 
feel  the  influence  of  this  love,  in  the  restraints  which  it  merci- 
fully imposes  upon  their  vicious  pursuits,  and  so  the  very  good- 
ness which  God  would  promote  is  felt  by  them  in  those  re- 
straints, as  if  it  were  the  unfoldings  of  anger. 

An  enlightened  survey  of  nature  presents  no  intimation  of 
the  anger  of  God:  the  reason  is,  because  there  is  no  such  prin- 
ciple in  his  character.  §  The  universe  furnishes  no  analogy 
suggestive  of  such  thought.  The  sun  is  acknowledged  to  be  a 
beautiful  emblem  of  the  Deity:  hence  God  is  called '' a  sun." |1 
But  there  is  nothing  observable  in  that  glorious  luminary  which 
can  be  said  to  answer  to  the  notion  of  divine  anger.  Lowering 
and  darkness  are  not  in  him:  such  phenomena  are  occasioned 
by  the  interposition  of  clouds,  and  the  diurnal  motion  of  the 
earth.  The  sun  forever  shines  in  brightness  and  in  beauty.  He 
never  frowns,  even  upon  the  wicked:  he  shines  upon  the  evil 
and  the  good.  It  is  so  with  the  divine  character:  anger  is 
opposed  to  all  that  is  divine,  but  it  is  predicated  of  God,  because 
man,  in  an  inverted  state,  sees  him  so.  The  wicked  man  thinks 
that  God  must  be  angry  with  the  transgressors  of  his  law,  be- 

*  Matt.  V.  48.  t  L"ke  vi.  36.  t  fsa-  ciii.  14. 

g  It  is  sometimes  said, — 

"  A  God  all  mercy  is  a  God  unjust;  " 
but  this  is  an  unreasonable  and  perverse  assertion:  the  truth  is,  that  if  he 
were  not  all  mercy,  he  would  be  unjust. 
II  rs:i.  Ixxxiv.  11. 


THE    CONDEMNATION    OF    THE    SERPENT.  153 

cause  he  believes  that  if  he  were  in  God's  place  he  should  be  so; 
and  as  an  evil  being  he  certainly  would:  b\it  this  is  not  the  char- 
acter of  God.  In  a  perverted  state,  spiritual  and  holy  things 
appear  contrary  to  their  reality,  as  the  sun  seems  red  and  fiery 
when  beheld  through  a  murky  atmosphere. 

This  is  a  principle  which  should  not  be  overlooked  in  consid- 
ering those  passages  of  revelation  in  which  God  is  spoken  of  as 
being  angry,  sending  forth  his  wrath,  and  executing  vengeance. 
God  is  the  author  of  the  laws  of  order:  if  a  man  transgresses 
them,  disastrous  consequences  follow;  but  of  these  the  man,  and 
not  God,  is  the  author.  The  serpent  was  told  that  it  was  cursed 
because  it  had  transgressed.  The  ground  was  pronounced  to  be 
cursed  for  man's  sake,  because  the  man,  now  fallen,  may  be 
presumed  to  have  withheld  from  it  those  orderly  labours  which 
are  necessary  to  maintain  its  fertility.  The  sorrows  of  the 
woman  were,  under  certain  circumstances,  to  be  multiplied,  be- 
cause, by  a  withdrawing  of  the  mind  from  the  divine  guidance, 
some  natural  law  of  the  body  might  have  been  infringed.  There 
is,  then,  no  necessity  for  fixing  the  authorship  of  such  calamities 
on  God,  in  any  other  way  than  as  an  appearance,  even  if  the 
statements  of  them  were  to  be  regarded  in  a  literal  sense :  so  far 
as  they  are  evils,  they  are  fairly  and  rationally  chargeable  on 
transgressors  only.  But  let  us  examine  some  of  the  particulars 
in  which  these  curses  are  said  to  have  consisted. 

Of  the  serpent  it  is  written,  ' '  Upon  thy  belly  shalt  thou  go, 
and  dust  shalt  thou  eat  all  the  days  of  thy  life :  and  I  will  put 
enmity  between  thee  and  the  woman,  and  between  thy  seed  and 
her  seed."  It  is  true  that  some  serpents  of  natural  history  may 
be  said  to  go  upon  their  belly;  also  that  all  civilized  society 
usually  associate  with  the  idea  of  them  a  sentiment  of  disgust. 
But  it  is  not  true  that  any  eat  dust  all  the  days  of  their  life;  or, 
indeed,  eat  dust  at  all.*  Nor  is  there  any  evidence  to  show 
that  the  form,  habits,  and  instinct  by  which  they  are  now 
distinguished  are  not  those  with  which  they  were  originally 
endowed,  t     No  condition  into  which  an  animal  is  created  really 

*The  food  of  serpents  consists  of  young  birds,  mice,  frogs,  and  fruit. 

t  Many  things  have  been  rehited  to  set  fortli  the  subtlety  of  the  serpent 
(see  Cruden,  Art.  Ser.),  but  some  are  mere  puerilities,  and  others  are  evi- 
dently false  ;  nor  is  there  any  I'act  established  to  show  that  they  possess  any 


154  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

comes  within  the  idea  of  an  ahnighty  curse.  All  are  as  happy 
as  tlieir  organization  will  admit  of,  nor  are  any  of  them  sensible 
of  any  deficiency  arising  from  an  inelegance  of  form  or  filthiness 
of  habit.  Serpents  that  crawl  without  legs  have  no  sense  of 
inferiority  to  the  saurians  whicb  have  them;  and  commentators 
are  not  agreed  as  to  which  kind  it  was  that  received  the  curse: 
nor  can  they  ever  be  so:  there  are  no  data  for  determining  the 
problem.  The  difliculty  is  considerably  increased  when  it  is 
asked  why  the  serpent  should  have  been  cursed  at  all,  when,  as 
commonly  supposed,  it  did  not  really  effect  the  seduction,  but 
the  devil,  who  had  either  entered  into  it,  or  assumed  its  shape? 
The  only  way  of  avoiding  the  embarrassments  which  attend 
such  considerations  is  at  once  to  concede  the  allegorical  signifi- 
cation of  the  narrative. 

The  circumstance  of  the  Lord  having  spoken  to  the  serpent 
most  certainly  shows  such  to  be  the  case.  Man  cannot  conceive 
the  idea  which  the  literal  statement  expresses.  But  taking  the 
serpent  to  be  a  representation  of  the  sensual  principle  of  man, 
we  can  understand  the  fact  intended  to  be  revealed.  Under 
such  a  view  of  it,  we  see  that  by  the  Lord  speaking  to  the  ser- 
pent was  denoted  divine  teaching  concerning  the  evil  which  the 
sensual  principle  had  produced:  and  therefore  the  serpent  is 
saicl  to  have  been  cursed  above  all  beasts;  thus  that  all  the 
affections  V)y  which  man  had  been  happily  distinguished,  Avere 
now  l)CCome  partakers  of  a  common  corruption,  but  that  the  ser- 
pent was  sunk  into  deeper  degradation  than  the  rest.  It  is  noAv 
first  described  as  going  upon  its  belly,  because  it  had  now  first 
ceased  to  look  upwards  to  heavenly  things;  it  no  longer  walked 
uprightly,  but  crawled  close  to  worldly  and  terrestrial  objects, 
when  dust  became  its  meat,  because  it  now  began  to  live  on 
earthly  and  corporeal  loves.  The  enmity  between  it*  and  the 
woman  with  her  seed,    denoted    the   separation  then  effected 

remarkable  sagacity.  Their  character"  Cor  cunning  and  deceit  has  been  derived 
from  its  description  in  the  temptation,  and  not  from  natural  history.  It  was 
the  serpent  that  was  subtle,  not  the  -whole  species  so  denominated. 

*  Dr.  A.  Clarke  says,  "  It  is  yet  to  be  discovered  that  the  serpentine  race 
have  anj^  peculiar  enmitj'  against  mankind,  nor  is  there  any  proof  that  men 
hate  serpents  more  than  they  do  other  noxious  animals. — But  we  are  not  to 
look  for  merely  literal  meanings  here." 


SCIENCE    AVERTS    A    SUPPOSED    CURSE.  155 

between  the  sensual  principle  and  the  heavenly  selfhood,  repre- 
sented by  the  woman  and  her  seed.  Every  one  knows  that  such 
a  separation  exists.  The  apostle  referred  to  it  when  he  said, 
"The  flesh  lusteth  against  the  Spirit,  and  the  Spirit  against  the 
flesh:  and  these  are  contrary  one  to  the  other":*  and  also  in 
the  declaration,  "When  I  would  do  good,  evil  is  present  with 
me."  t  These  are  the  common  experiences  of  religious  men, 
which  practically  show  the  enmity  between  the  serpent  and  the 
woman  with  her  seed. 

But  to  the  woman  it  was  said,  "  I  will  greatly  multiply  thy 
conception;  in  sorrow  shalt  thou  bring  forth  children;  and  thy 
desire  shall  be  to  thy  husband,  and  he  shall  rule  over  thee." 
This,  like  the  malediction  on  the  serpent,  can  be  satisfactorily 
understood  only  in  a  spiritual  sense.  Inquiry  has  resulted  in 
showing  that  the  former  part  of  this  announcement  does  not 
universally  apply:  and  it  would  be  somewhat  difhcult  to  prove 
how  the  latter  part  comes  within  the  meaning  of  a  curse. 
Although  it  may  be  admitted  that  the  fall  infringed  certain 
laws,  which  so  affected  the  female  constitution  as  to  increase 
the  natural  sufferings  attending  parturition,  yet  it  is  well  known 
that  they  are  very  unequal  in  their  severity,  which  they  should 
not  be  on  the  supposition  of  their  being  a  divine  infliction,  and 
if  God  be  impartial  in  its  distribution.  INIontaigne  says,  "  Tliis 
curse,  as  it  is  called,  applies  only  to  a  certain  species  of  females; 
whole  nations  of  females  being  entirely  free  from  it."  |  Another 
Avriter  observes,  "Whatever  may  be  the  cause  or  causes,  the  fact 
seems  to  be,  that  women  of  colour  have  easier  parturition  in 
general  than  Avhite  Europeans. "  §  Travellers  assert  that  it  is 
comparatively  easy  among  the  Indians,  under  the  equator,  and 
particularly  in  Tartary. ||  Goldsmith  states,  "The  women  of 
Africa  always  deliver  themselves,  and  are  yveW  in  a  few  hours 
after."  ^  Thus  it  is  evident  that  climate  and  ph3'sical  constitu- 
tion have  very  much  to  do  with  this  matter;  and  the  discoveries 

*  Gal.  V.  17.  fKom,  vii.  21.  J  Essays,  i.,  c.  14. 

§  White's  "Kegular  Gradations  in  Man,"  p.  73. 

II  Terry's  "Voyage  to  India,"  sect,  xvii.,  p.  430  ;  aud  Theveuot,  part  iii., 
ch.  24,  p.  47. 

H  "History  of  the  Earth,"  &c.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  47. 


156  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

of  science*  have  nuide  great  progress  towards  aft'ording  entire 
relief  under  what  is  usually  found  to  be  so  painful  in  the 
northern  regions  of  the  world.  Supposing  the  api»lication  of 
such  discoveries  to  become  general,  which  is  by  no  means  un- 
reasonable, since  a  great  number  of  particular  cases  have  already 
occurred,  then  what  is  to  become  of  the  idea  that  the  sufferings 
were  the  result  of  execration  ?  Must  we  believe  that  the  curse 
was  inflicted  for  a  time  only,  and  that  God  has  at  last  mercifully 
enabled  men  to  discover  a  physical  means  which,  by  putting  a 
stop  to  its  existence,  enabled  them  to  determine  the  period  of 
its  duration?  This  would  hardly  be  satisfactor}' ;  nor,  indeed, 
can  any  other  view  of  the  subject,  except  that  which  brings  us 
back  to  the  acknowledgment  of  its  symbolical  character. 

The  declaration  that  the  woman's  desire  should  be  towards 
her  husbandf  will  hardly  be  construed  by  the  chaste  into  a 
melancholy  consequence.  Such  will  consider  a  steady  and 
undivided  affection  to  be  among  their  best  enjoyments:  and  are 
there  not  multitudes  of  instances  in  which  it  would  have  been  a 
solid  blessing  ?  If  the  circumstance  of  the  woman's  desire  being 
towards  her  husband  were  a  portion  of  a  curse,  then  the  exist- 
ence of  an  opposite  affection  may  be  inferred  to  have  been  a 
blessing,  and,  in  that  case,  how  came  the  enactment,  "Thou 
shalt  not  commit  adultery  "  ?  To  interpret  it  as  a  curse,  takes 
reason  far  beyond  its  depth,  and  quite  submerges  it.  But  what 
is  to  be  said  of  the  assertion,  "He  shall  rule  over  thee"?  As 
Christianity  is  true,  that  statement,  even  supposing  it  to  treat 
of  the  relative  position  of  the  sexes,  cannot  mean  to  declare  the 

*  The  use  of  chloroform  is  here  referred  to.  \Yhen  first  introduced  into 
the  practice  of  the  accoucheur,  it  was  vehemently  objected  to  on  the  part  of 
some  of  the  clergy  of  Scotland  and  others,  on  the  ground  that  it  was  unlawful 
to  prevent  the  due  course  of  that  which  God  had  pronounced  to  be  a  curse. 
Many  pamphlets  were  written  in  defence  of  this  absurd  opinion. 

t  This  is  sometimes  construed  to  mean,  "thy  desires  shall  be  thy  hus- 
band's," a  dative  for  a  genitive  case.  But,  admitting  this,  which  neverthe- 
less is  not  the  true  idea  of  the  original,  an  affectionate  wife  would  rarely 
consider  her  reception  of  the  orderly  desires  of  her  husband  any  very  deplor- 
able circumstance.  She  would  most  likely  regard  it  as  a  means  of  binding 
herself  more  closely  to  his  love.  Are  not  the  thousands  of  instances  existing, 
in  which  his  desires  are  not  so  received,  proofs  that  such  is  not  tlie  meaning 
of  the  sentence? 


WOMAN    THE    SYMBOL    OF    THE    SELFHOOD.  157 

dominion  of  a  master,  but  the  guidance  of  a  protector.  Where, 
then,  is  the  malediction  ?  If  these  things  were  calamities  to  the 
woman,  how  were  they  to  affect  the  man  ?  He  can  hardly 
regard  the  information  by  which  he  learns  the  intense  attach- 
ment of  his  wife,  and  the  dignity  of  his  own  position  in  respect 
to  her,  as  an  indication  of  anathema.  It  never  once  occurs  to 
him  that  woman's  undivided  love,  or  that  the  protection  which 
he  extends  to  her,  is  the  result  of  an  almighty  curse!  It  can- 
not be  so.  It  is  plain  that  to  view  the  history  in  such  a  light  is 
to  mistake  its  purpose;  and  even  if  this  were  less  obvious  than 
it  is,  intelligent  piety  would  be  compelled  to  acknowledge,  that 
human  degradation  and  its  painful  consequence  were  not  of 
God,  but  from  man,  by  his  perversion  of  God's  good  things. 

The  narrative  is  intelligible  and  satisfactory  only  when  viewed 
in  a  spiritual  sense.  The  circumstances  related  in  it  represent 
those  spiritual  consequences  which  the  fall  induced  upon  the 
people  of  the  Church  of  those  most  ancient  times. 

It  has  been  shown  that  the  woman,  who  was  given  to  the  man 
Avhen  it  was  discovered  not  to  be  good  that  he  should  be  alone, 
was  the  symbol  of  that  selfhood  Avhich  the  Lord  mercifully 
granted,  when  discontent  under  the  divine  guidance  began  to 
appear.*  This  selfhood,  like  a  pure  and  lovely  woman,  was 
then  good  and  innocent,  being  vivified  by  the  Lord.  But  it 
consented  to  the  persuasion  of  the  serpent,  and  consequently 
fell.  Hereby  that  selfhood,  which  had  primarily  been  directed 
to  the  Lord,  and  had  been  filled  with  the  delight  of  heavenly 
things,  was  turned  towards  the  world,  and  became  enamoured 
of  its  pleasures.  Its  character  was  changed;  and  sensual  influ- 
ences were  so  brought  to  bear  upon  it  as  to  endanger  the  ease 
and  freedom  with  which  spiritual  things  had  previously  been 
conceived  in  the  mind,  and  brought  forth  in  the  conduct.  Her 
sorrows  were  to  be  multipliedf  in  conception  and  bringing 
forth:  the  sorrows  in  conception]:  were  the  difficulties  that  were 

*  See  page  113. 

t  It  deserves  to  be  remarked,  that  the  sorrows  were  now  to  be  multiplied  ; 
thus  implying  that  they  had,  to  some  extent,  previously  existed.  The  rea- 
son is,  because  the  fall  was  not  a  sudden  but  a  gradual  decline,  and  the 
severity  of  the  consequences  was  now  in  the  process  of  being  increased. 

t  "  Conception."      The  Septuagint  version  omits  this  clause  altogether  ; 


158  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

now  to  be  experienced  in  the  apprehending  of  interior  truth; 
and  the  sorrows  in  bringing  forth  were  the  pains  and  temptations 
that  were  to  be  endured  in  introducing  them  to  hfe.  The  Lord 
is  said  to  be  the  author  of  them,  because  they  become  percepti- 
ble, through  his  pressing,  as  it  were,  to  be  received  and  loved. 
Every  one  knows  these  sorrows  to  exist,  and  that  they  are  the 
peculiar  inheritances  of  the  fallen  selfhood  of  humanity. .  In 
this  sense  the  statements  are  of  universal  application,  and  expe- 
rience furnishes  the  interpretation.  The  same  is  true  of  the 
assertion,  ' '  Thy  desire  shall  be  to  thy  husband,  and  he  shall 
rule  over  thee." 

Before  the  fall  man  had  wisdom  and  intelligence,  and  these 
were  denominated  man;  but  ])y  that  event  those  blessings  were 
corrupted,  and  reason,  another  principle,  took  their  place. 
Hence  it  was  called  husband^  and  not  man.  The  change  of 
terms  denotes  an  alteration  in  condition.  Every  expression 
in  God's  Word  is  peculiarly  significant.  That  which  had  been 
man  was  now  husband;  that  which  had  been  wisdom  now  Avas 
reason.  Hence,  by  the  woman's  desire  being  towards  her  hus- 
band is  denoted  the  continual  inclinations  of  the  selfhood  toward 
the  reason  with  which  it  is  conjoined;  and  by  his  having  "  rule 
over  her"  is  signified  the  dominion  which  that  reason  ought  to 
exercise. 

In  reference  to  the  man  it  is  said,  ' '  Cursed  is  the  ground  for 
thy  sake;  in  sorrow  shalt  thou  eat  of  it  all  the  days  of  thy  life. 
Thorns  and  thistles  shall  it  bring  forth;  and  thou  shalt  eat  the 
herb  of  the  field.  In  the  sweat  of  thy  face  shalt  thou  eat  bread. " 
This  is  usually  interpreted  to  mean  that  the  fertility  of  the  soil 
was  impaired,  so  that  henceforth  man  should  not  derive  his 
natural  sul)sistence  from  it  without  laborious  cultivation:  and, 
also,  that  during  the  raising  of  the  crops  he  should  be  afflicted 
with  anxieties,  arising  from  the  fear  of  mildew,  insects,  un- 
favourable seasons,  and  other  causes  by  which  their  safety  would 
be  endangered.  Now,  it  is  true  that  such  labour  is  required, 
and  that  such  anxieties  exist,  yet  we  cannot  conceive  them  to 
have  sprung  out  of  divine  anathema!     They  are  not  universally 

perliajis  because  the  translators  inaccurately  supposed  it  was  sufficiently 
comprehended  in  what  follows.  This,  however,  neither  the  original  nor  the 
spiritual  sense  allows. 


THE    SUPPOSED    CURSE    ON    THE    LAND    UNEQUAL.'  159 

felt.  They  pertain  directly  to  that  portion  of  mankind  only 
whose  em^Dloyment  is  agriculture.  There  are  whole  classes  of 
society  entirely  exempt  from  them.  Moreover,  the  inflictions 
are  very  unequal  on  those  by  whom  they  are  experienced;  they 
are  found  to  vary  very  much  with  latitude,  locality,  and  other 
physical  causes.  With  how  little  labour,  and  with  what  an 
absence  of  solicitude,  is  abundance  of  corn  produced  upon  the 
banks  of  the  Nile!  That  river  does  for  Egypt  much  of  that 
which  manual  labour  is  obliged  to  supply  in  other  countries. 
It  has  always  been  celebrated  for  its  fertility.  "Joseph  gath- 
ered corn  as  the  sand  of  the  sea,  very  much,  until  he  left  num- 
bering; for  it  was  without  number."*  Pocock  informs  us  that 
it  is  sometimes  necessary  to  temper  the  richness  of  the  soil  by 
bringing  sand  to  it.  Herodotus,  speaking  of  Babylonia,  says, 
"  Of  all  the  countries  which  have  come  within  my  observation, 
this  is  far  the  most  fruitful  in  corn.  The  soil  is  so  particularly 
well  adapted  for  it,  that  it  never  produces  less  than  two  hun- 
dred fold;  in  seasons  which  are  remarkably  favourable,  it  will 
sometimes  rise  to  three  hundred,  "f  Norway  is  the  reverse  of 
this  fertility;  its  inhabitants,  therefore,  raise  scarcely  any  grain  or 
vegetables:  they  import  most  of  what  they  use,  and  in  seasons  of 
scarcity  are  obliged  to  mix  the  ground  bark  of  trees  with  their 
bread.;!;  These  facts  show  that  the  differing  conditions  of  the 
land  render  manual  labour,  for  the  production  of  food,  very  un- 
equal in  its  amount;  which  is  difficult  to  understand  if  the  uni- 
versal ground  were  cursed,  in  order  to  exact  a  laborious  toil 
from  man  to  render  it  productive.  Why  should  it  not  have 
been  uniform  in  its  action  ?  There  is  no  hint  given  that  it  was 
to  be  partial  in  its  operation;  which  we  think  would  have  been 
the  case  if  the  literal  sense  had  been  intended  for  our  faith. 
Moreover,  these  differences  are  traceable  to  natural  causes,  §  and 
the  labour  which  an  inferior  soil  requires  may  be  considerably 
reduced  by  the  appliances  of  art.  ||  But  the  ground  was  to 
bring  forth  "thorns  and  thistles;"  and  it  does  so.     When  was 

*  Gen.  xli.  49.  t  Clio,  cxciii.  J  Goldsmith's  Geography. 

?  It  may  be  said  that  God  is  the  author  of  those  natural  causes  :  so  far  as 
this  is  the  case,  he  operates  in  the  way  of  general  blessing,  and  never  in  the 
way  of  partial  curse 

II  Consult  Professor .Tolinson's  work  on  Agricultural  Chemistry;  also  Liebig. 


160  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

it  otherwise?  It  cannot  mean  that  it  was  then  for  the  first  time 
to  do  so.  The  species  are  not  named,  but  geology  shows  us  the 
existence  of  some  that  must  have  flourislied  long  anterior  to  the . 
creation  of  man.  We  feel  it  difficult  to  reconcile  these  facts 
with  the  common  notion  of  God  having,  six  thousand  years  ago, 
pronounced  a  curse  upon  the  ground  for  the  punishment  of  his 
people.  It  is  a  shallow  inference,  and  not  a  divine  truth.  The 
idea  of  God  having,  upon  the  one  hand,  taken  from  the  ground 
that  which  had  rendered  it  luxuriant  in  the  production  of  human 
food;  and,  upon  the  other,  to  have  imparted  that  which  was  to 
make  it  fertile  in  whins  and  briars,  cannot  be  rationally  sus- 
tained: nor  is  it  requisite  to  uphold  the  character  of  God's  jus- 
tice, or  to  maintain  the  divine  purpose  of  the  narrative.  It  was 
written  with  an  entirely  different  design,*  which  we  shall 
endeavour  briefly  to  explain. 

By  the  ground  is  denoted  that  orderly  external  of  man,  by 
which  he  was  distinguished  when  the  development  of  his  relig- 
ious character  became  complete,  f  By  the  fall  its  excellence 
was  necessarily  impaired,  and  so  it  became  less  prolific  in  the 
good  things  of  use.  "  To  eat  of  it  in  sorrow,"  denotes  to  live 
from  it  unhappily:  "to  eat"  is  to  appropriate,  and  so  to  live; 
and  ever}^  one  may  see  that  to  appropriate  the  false  sentiments 
and  evil  affections,  which  had  now  taken  hold  of  the  external 
man,  must  needs  have  been  attended  with  anxiety  and  sorrow. 
Experience  shows  that  it  is  so,  and  satisfactorily  explains  the 
passage. 

The  ground  was  now  to  bring  forth  "thorns  and  thistles,"  to 
denote  that  the  external  man  would  now  engender  evil  and  false 
principles.  Evils  are  the  thorns,  and  false  principles  are  the 
thistles.  Hence  the  Lord,  when  treating  of  the  distinction 
between  the  good  and  the  evil,  and  the  faithful  and  disbelievers, 
said,  "Do  men  gather  grapes  of  thorns,  or  figs  of  thistles?"  J 
To  "  eat  the  herb  of  the  field,"  signified  that  he  would  live  a 
worldly  life;  and  "  to  eat  bread  in  the  sweat  of  the  face,"  was 
to  partake  of  heavenly  things  only  through  toil  and  exertion. 

*  St.  Austin  says,  "No  Christian  will  venture  to  affirm  that  these  things 
are  not  to  he  taken  in  a  figurative  sense." — Preface  to  his  Twelve  Books  on  the 
First  Three  Chapters  of  Genesis. 

t  See  page  58.  •  J  Matt.  vii.  16. 


THE    THREE    CURSES.  161 

These  ideas  could  be  easily  proved  by  citations  from  the  Word, 
but  we  cannot  dwell  on  the  detail.  The  reasonableness  of  these 
views,  briefly  as  they  are  stated,  will  commend  themselves  to 
the  thinker:  those  who  will  not  think  need  not  expect  to  knoAv. 
From  what  has  now  been  stated  it  will  be  seen  that  by  the 
condemnation  of  the  serpent  is  denoted  the  evils  Avhich  the 
sensual  principle  had  brought  upon  itself;  by  the  sentence  upon 
the  woman  was  signified  the  evils  to  which  the  voluntary  self- 
hood had  become  attached;  and  by  the  anathema  upon  the  man 
was  represented  the  evils  lo  which  his  intellectual  part  ha;d  con- 
sented. These  respective  evils  were  the  curses;  and,  as  man 
brought  the  evils,  so  he  must  have  been  the  author  of  the  male- 
dictions, and  of  his  sufferings  therefrom. 


13 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

CAIN  AND  ABEL,  WITH  THEIR  OCCUPATIONS. 

"It  is  consonant  to  the  history  of  Moses  to  suppose  that  God  wished  him  to  give 
mystical  representations  of  the  more  sublime  subjects  of  theology;  because  that 
style  of  writing  was  suited  to  the  hieroglyphical  learning  in  which  he  had  been 
instructed.'" — Dr.  Spencer,  De  Leyihus  Hebtwoi-wn. 

The  history  by  which  we  are  informed  of  the  births  of  Cain 
and  Abel,  with  their  occupations,  is  exceedingly  simple  and 
compendious.  "  Adam  knew  Eve  his  wife;  and  she  conceived, 
and  bare  Cain,  and  said,  I  have  gotten  a  man  from  the  Lord. 
And  she  again  bare  his  brother  Abel.  And  Abel  was  a  keeper 
of  sheep,  but  Cain  was  a  tiller  of  the  ground. "  *  If  we  were 
to  regard  this  as  literal  history,  it  would,  nevertheless,  be  reason- 
able to  think  that,  £ts  a  revelation,  something  more  was  designed 
by  it  than  first  meets  the  eye;  and  this  it  Avould  be  our  duty  to 
investigate  and  endeavour  to  learn.  Although  there  might  have 
been  in  early  society  such  individuals  as  Cain  and  Abel,  engaged 
in  agricultural  and  pastoral  pursuits,  3^et  it  is  difficult  to  sup- 
j^ose  they  would  be  referred  to  in  any  other  way  than  as  afford- 
ing ground  for  the  construction  of  a  symliolical  history,  relating 
to  matters  of  a  much  more  extensive  and  serious  nature  than 
the  mere  letter  can  possibly  express.  As  the  history  which 
precedes  that  of  Cain  and  Abel  is  only  representative,  we  think 
that  their  history  is  of  a  similar  character.  The  manner  in 
Avhich  those  histories  are  connected  seems  to  us  to  establish  this 
opinion.  As  Adam  is  a  generic  name,  expressing  the  idea  of  a 
community,  the  names  of  Cain  and  Abel,  who  are  described  to 
have  descended  from  them,  must  be  similarly  construed;  for  a 
communit}'  of  persons  cannot  be  said  to  give  birth  to  individuals 
in  their  general  capacity.  The  people  of  one  generation  originate 
the  people  who  succeed  them;  but  each  individual  springs  from 
his  own  particular  parents.      It  would  be  absurd  to  say  that  all 

*Gen.  iv.  1,  2. 

162 


CAIN    AND    ABEL    RELIGIOUS    SOCIETIES.  163 

the  inhabitants  of  Rome  were  the  father  and  mother  of  Julius 
Caesar;  and  yet  this  is  much  like  supposing  tlie  societies  called 
Adam  and  Eve  to  have  been  the  personal  parents  of  Cain  and 
Abel,  considered  as  individuals.  One  generation,  called  Adam, 
gave  birth  to  other  generations,  called  Cain  and  Abel;  but  as 
the  former  was  a  collection  of  men,  so  were  the  latter:  as  the 
former  constituted  a  church,  which  afterwards  fell,  so  the  latter 
constituted  separate  communities,  which  distinguished  them- 
selves by  different  religious  sentiments  and  life. 

It  is  no  uncommon  thing  for  a  single  name  to  be  employed  to 
express  the  idea  of  a  whole  people.  It  was  customary  among 
the  ancients,  it  is  found  in  the  Scriptures,  and  occasionally  it  is 
had  recourse  to  in  modern  times.  Thus,  in  countries,  whether 
monarchical  or  republican,  the  king  or  president  is  named  to 
express  the  acts  and  opinions  of  a  whole  cabinet.  France,  Eng- 
land, and  other  countries  are  sometimes  mentioned,  not  to  sig- 
nify their  geographical  existence,  but  to  denote  their  living 
populations.  In  the  Scriptures,  Egypt,  Judea,  Philistia,  Sidon, 
Jerusalem,  and  many  other  places  are  mentioned,  not  to  indicate 
localities,  but  their  inhabitants.  Every  one  knows  that  the 
single  names  of  Jacob,  Esau,  Joseph,  Benjamin,  and  other 
descendants  of  Abraham,  are  frequently  employed,  not  to  express 
individuals,  but  a  whole  people,  who  were  influenced  and 
directed  by  certain  views  of  a  religious  or  economical  character. 
The  following  instances  will  suffice  to  show  this: — "  I  will  visit 
Jacob  according  to  his  ways";  "Jacob  shall  rejoice,  and  Israel 
be  glad";  "He  leadeth  Joseph  like  a  flock."  Multitudes  of 
cases  of  this  kind  may  be  found  in  the  Scriptures,  and  those  of 
Cain  and  Abel  are  to  be  classed  among  them.  They  do  not 
signify  individuals,  but  communities,  in  whom  were  developed 
certain  features  of  religious  sentiment  and  feeling.  They 
descended  from  the  people  called  Adam,  and  the  principles  by 
which  they  were  morally  influenced  were  derived  from  the  same 
source. 

These  statements  will  appear  remarkable  to  all  who  have 
been  accustomed  to  regard  those  names  as  significant  of  indi- 
viduals only.  Nevertheless,  it  is  evident  that  at  this  time  more 
than  four  persons  were  in  existence.  Indeed,  it  is  usual  to 
concede  this  fact  by  supposing  that  there  might  have  been  other 


164  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

descendants  of  Adam,  whose  births  are  not  recorded.  But, 
apart  from  this  idea,  society  must  have  been  considerable. 
Some  reasons  for  this  opinion  have  been  already  adduced- 
others  may  now  be  added.  The  occupations  assigned  to  Cain 
and  Abel,  if  understood  in  a  literal  sense,  require  the  admission 
of  this  idea.  Tilling  the  ground  and  keeping  sheep  were  dis- 
tinctive employments,  that  must  have  sprung  out  of  the  require- 
ments of  society.  Although  the  cultivation  of  a  little  land 
might  have  been  required  for  the  maintenance  of  four  individu- 
als, yet  it  is  difficult  to  see  why  the  keeping  of  sheep  should 
have  been  requisite  for  so  limited  a  number.  Such  distinction 
of  employments  would  scarcely  have  been  recorded  if  there  had 
not  been  society  sufficiently  extensive  to  require  their  uses;  How- 
ever, Cain's  attention  was  not  wholly  directed  to  agriculture. 
We  find  that  he  had  acquired  some  knowledge  of  the  art  of 
building;  for  he  is  afterwards  described  to  have  erected  a  city  in 
the  land  of  Nod:  both  this  knowledge  and  the  city  must  have 
been  called  into  existence  by  the  requirements  of  society.  It 
must  have  been  such  society  that  provided  him  with  his  wife, 
for  there  is  no  account  of  her  origination. 

But  for  what  purpose  were  the  sheep  to  be  kept  ?  It  does  not 
appear  that  they  were  used  as  food.  To  suppose  that  they  were 
kept  for  the  sake  of  their  wool,  implies  the  existence  of  a  much 
larger  society  than  that  with  which  the  letter  of  the  history 
makes  us  acquainted,  and  to  which  its  uses,  in  the  way  of  being 
converted  into  articles  of  clothing,  must  have  been  well  known. 
If  we  conjecture  that  it  was  for  sacrificial  purposes  only,  this 
obviously  implies  the  prevalence  of  a  religious  community  for 
whose  offerings  they  were  preserved.  The  offering  of  Cain  was 
of  the  fniit  of  the  ground.  What  was  this  ?  was  it  brought  in  a 
natural  or  prepared  state  ?  The  original  word  m.inchah  is  thought 
to  be  explained  in  Leviticus,  and  to  mean  an  offering  of  fine 
flour ^  with  oil  and  frankincense.^  If  Cain's  offering  were  really 
of  this  description,  how  can  we  reasonably  account  for  the  exist- 
ence of  those  arts  by  which  fine  flour  and  oil  were  prepared, 
but  on  the  supposition  of  society  being  more  numerous  than  is 
usually  thought  of? 

The  very  circumstance  of  offerings  l)eing  spoken  of,  unaccom- 

*  Lev.  ii.  1.     See  Dr.  A.  Clarke. 


THE    OCCUPATIONS    OF    CAIN    AND    ABEL    RELIGIOUS.  165 

panied  by  any  coiiiinand  enjoining  them,  is  presumptive  evi- 
dence that  the  idea  of  such  a  practice  had  been  obtained  by 
these  brothers  from  a  church  or  people  previously  extant.  Sac- 
rificial worship  was  not  commanded  by  God,  nor  is  it  any 
spontaneous  offspring  of  the  human  mind.  It  must  have  origi- 
nated out  of  the  i3erversion  of  some  divine  law  or  institution,  for 
it  is  most  unreasonable  considered  in  itself;*  and  therefore, 
granting  the  offering  of  Abel  to  have  been  a  natural  sacrifice, 
that  fact  implies  the  perversion  of  some  holier  things  that  had 
been  known  to  his  predecessors. 

Both  Cain  and  Abel  brought  offerings  unto  the  Lord;  this 
indicates  a  publicity  in  their  worship,  which  idea  the  notion  of 
the  presence  only  of  the  two  parents  and  two  sons  is  not  suffi- 
cient to  supply.  "  The  Hebrew  Avord  rendered  brought  is  never 
used  with  respect  to  domestic  or  private  oblations,  but  always 
for  public  sacrifices,  "t  The  circumstance,  then,  of  their  hav- 
ing brought  offerings  obviously  denotes  the  existence  of  society, 
and  consequently  that  there  were  two  classes  of  men,  each  of 
which  was  most  attentive  to  its  own  views  concerning  them. 
But  the  unquestionable  fact  that  Adam  was  a  people,  and  not  a 
single  person,  renders  it  unnecessary  to  dwell  upon  merely  col- 
lateral circumstance  to  prove  that  it  is  the  religious  state  of 
society,  and  not  the  worldly  vocation  of  individuals,  which  is 
represented  by  the  occupations  of  Cain  and  Abel. 

The  Adamic  Church  having  fallen  by  the  transgression  of  its 
members,  different  views  of  faith  and  duty  would,  in  the  pro- 
cess of  time,  obviously  arise  among  them.  Having  eaten  of 
the  tree  of  knowledge,  they  would  begin  to  think  and  act  from 
self.  Self  is  not  a  uniting,  but  a  dividing,  principle.  Under 
such  circumstances,  sectarianism  would  break  out  among  them; 
and  the  sects,  with  their  different  branches,  would  for  a  consid- 
erable period  be  capable  of  being  traced  to  the  original  stock. 
The  fallen  Adamic  Church  Avas  the  parent  whence  they  all 
descended.     It  was  customary  in  ancient  times  to  speak  of  one 

*  See  Dr.  Magee  ou  the  Atouement.  Bishop  Patrick  says,  "  It  is  uot  prob- 
able that  Adam  would  have  presumed  to  invent  a  way  of  worship  by  killing 
beasts  and  burning  their  fat;  especially  as  we  cannot  perceive  any  inclination 
to  it  in  nature." 

t  Bishop  Patrick. 


166  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

condition  of  the  Church  as  being  conceived  and  born  of  another, 
and  so  to  form  a  sort  of  genealogy  concerning  its  successive 
states,  and  to  give  them  names  accordingly.  This  is  the  prin- 
ciple involved  in  the  description  of  Adam's  descendants.  There 
are  a  conception  and  birth  of  religious  o[)inion  as  well  as  of  per- 
sons. Every  one  who  is  at  all  acquainted  with  the  history  of 
the  Christian  Church  knows  when  the  principles  of  Protestantism 
were  born,  and  who  were  their  parents;  for  we  have  only  to  look 
abroad  upon  society,  and  we  shall  behold  their  progeny  in  a 
hundred  sects.  In  the  Church,  one  thing  is,  as  it  were,  con- 
ceived and  born  of  another  in  the  way  of  spiritual  generation. 
The  apostle  says,  "  Now  abideth  faith,  hope,  and  charity;  but 
the  greatest  of  these  is  charity."  *  Charity,  then,  according  to 
this  authority,  is  the  firstborn  principle  of  the  Christian  life, 
faith  is  next,  and  hope  succeeds.  If  charity  became  extinct 
among  a  people,  the  light  of  faith  is  necessarily  endangered;  and 
then  how  feeble  and  precarious  must  be  their  hopes!  It  is  easy 
to  see  how  one  imperfect  state  of  the  Church  may,  as  a  parent, 
beget  another:  the  idea  is  distinctly  expressed  in  the  Revela- 
tion, which  describes  a  woman  as  the  mother  of  harlots:  f  it 
plainly  means  a  false  religion  originating  abandoned  principles. 
Now  if  the  narrative  of  Cain  and  Abel  be  viewed  under  this 
aspect,  we  shall  perceive  that  they  are  names  expressive  of  two 
different  classes  of  religious  principles,  which  descended  from 
the  Adamic  people,  after  they  had  partaken  of  the  forbidden 
tree.  The  same  view  is  to  be  taken  of  their  other  descendants.  X 
This  is  somewhat  evident  from  what  is  stated  of  the  age  of  Adam. 
He  is  said  to  have  lived  eight  hundred  3' ears  after  he  begat  Seth; 
a  circumstance  that  may  be  fairly  doubted  when  interpreted  of 
an  individual  man,  but  which  is  very  rational  when  it  is  sup- 
posed to  treat  of  the  continuance  of  a  religious  dispensatioii. 
Considered  in  this  light,  parallel  cases  can  be  adduced  from  re- 
ligious history.  The  Jewish  economy  has  lasted  for  nearly 
three  thousand  years;  and  Abraham  may,  in  a  certain  sense,  be 
said  to  have  lived  all  this  time,  in  the  religious  principles  and 

*  1  Cor.  xiii.  13.  f  Rev.  xvii.  r>. 

J  "  All  the  personages  whose  histories  are  so  earnestly  related  in  Eastern 
countries  never  existed,  and  are  nothing  more  than  the  ancient  symbols  per- 
sonified."— Abbe  Pluche's  History  of  the  Heav€ns,vo].  i.,  p.  142. 


CHARACTERISTICS    OF    FAITH    AND    CHARITY.  1G7 

physiognomy  which  have  been  perpetuated  to  his  descendants. 
But  we  must  not  here  anticipate  what  we  have  to  say  on  the 
longevity  of  the  antediluvian  patriarchs.  It  is  sufficient  now 
to  observe  that  the  nine  hundred  and  thirty  years  recorded  as 
the  duration  of  Adam's  life  were  significant  of  the  states  and 
periods  of  the  dispensation  so  denominated;  but  that  it,  like 
the  Protestant  religion  during  the  three  hundred  years  of  its 
existence,  *  was  broken  into  a  variety  of  sects,  among  whom 
Cain  and  Abel  were  the  first  and  most  distinguished. 

So  long  as  the  Adamic  dispensation  continued  in  its  integrity, 
all  the  faculties  of  its  people  acted  as  one.  The  will  loved  what 
the  understanding  perceived  to  be  true,  and  they  worked  har- 
moniously in  promoting  the  virtues  of  a  holy  life.  But  when  the 
people  fell,  those  two  faculties  ceased  to  be  united.  This  condi- 
tion of  them  is  one  of  .the  legacies  which  that  event  has  be- 
queathed to  posterity;  and  experience  proves  it  to  have  been 
faithfully  transmitted.  We  have  a  distinct  consciousness  tliat  the 
will  and  the  understanding  act  separately  from  each  other.  We 
think  one  thing,  which  may  be  true; — that  is  of  the  understand- 
ing: we  love  another,  which  may  be  opposite  thereto; — that  is  of 
the  will.  These  two  faculties,  in  our  unregenerated  state,  do  not 
act  in  unison:  they,  so  to  speak,  turn  their  backs  upon  each 
other,  and  look  in  opposite  directions.  This  fact  is  a  proof  that 
man  has  broken  in  upon  the  harmony  of  his  moral  creation, 
and  destroyed  the  unanimity  which  it  originally  possessed. 
Every  one  is  aware  that  in  religious  things  there  are  some  per- 
sons who  know  truth  much  better  than  they  do  it;  and,  also, 
that  there  are  others  who  feel  truth  much  more  correctly  than 
they  know  it.  The  understandings  of  the  former  are  always  on 
the  alert  to  seize  on  any  information  which  is  likely  to  increase 
their  power:  the  will  of  the  latter  will  be  found  docile,  and  re- 
sponsive to  certain  qualities  of  good.  These  distinctive  classes 
are  among  the  results  of  that  separation  which  has  taken  place 
in  these  two  faculties  of  humanity,    and  were  first  displayed 

*  Protestautisni  is  referred  to  for  illustration,  because  the  facts  concerning 
it  are  better  known  in  this  country.  History  shows  the  Roman  Catholic 
religion  not  to  have  been  exempt  from  similar  divisions.  What  is  called  the 
Eastern  Church  is  separated  into  three  great  parts,  the  Greek,  the  Roman, 
and  those  who  differ  from  both. — MOSHEIM,  Cent,  xvi.,  chap.  11. 


168  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

under  the  representative  characters  of  Cain  and  Abel.  By  Cain 
were  represented  those  who  intellectually  knew  their  Master's 
will  but  did  it  not:  by  Abel  were  denoted  tliose  who  felt  good- 
ness to  be  superior  to  knowledge,  and  so  cultivated  it  with  the 
greatest  ardour.  Such  classes  have  always  prevailed  within  the 
pale  of  a  declining  church.  The  Lord  informed  us  of  their  ex- 
istence among  the  Jews,  by  the  cases  of  the  Pharisee  and  the 
Publican.*  They  both  went  up  to  pray,  but  the  Pharisee,  in 
the  pride  of  his  intellect,  thanked  God  that  he  was  not  as  other 
men  are;  while  the  Publican,  in  the  humility  of  his  heart,  said, 
"  Lord  be  merciful  to  me  a  sinner  " ;  and  this  man  was  justified 
rather  than  the  other. 

Traces  of  similar  characters  are  to  be  found  in  Christendom. 
It  is  well  known  to  ol^servers  that  there  are  those  who  are  self- 
satisfied  with  their  intellectual  possessions;  who  can  converse 
with  fluency  about  the  things  of  religion;  who  can  argue  its 
positions  with  acuteness,  and  defend  them  with  sagacity  and 
power;  but  who,  nevertheless,  show,  by  their  conduct  and  be- 
haviour, that  they  have  hard  hearts  and  c^uestionable  morals. 

Who  is  not  aware  that  there  are  others,  but  slightly  acquainted 
with  the  doctrinal  sentiments  of  religion,  that  can  only  con- 
verse imperfectly  about  the  spiritual  truth  of  revelation,  but 
who,  notwithstanding,  have  about  them  that  simplicity  of  char- 
acter which  assures  the  ol)server  that  they  love  and  cherish  what 
is  good  ?  The  former  strive  to  conceal  the  deformity  of  their 
character  by  the  brilliancy  of  their  intellect;  the  latter,  possess- 
ing no  such  talents,  at  once  let  you  behold  their  hearts,  and 
you  see  that  they  have  respect  for  order  and  for  virtue. 

Now,  it  was  two  classes  of  sentiments  of  this  description,  and, 
consequently,  of  persons  by  whom  they  were  respectively  held, 
that  came  into  existence  in  the  Adamic  Church  under  the  two 
names  of  Cain  and  Abel.  They  both  professed  to  serve  the 
Lord,  but  each  from  a  different  principle,  and  therefore,  with 
different  results. 

But  we  will  endeavour  to  investigate  the  character  of  each, 
under  the  light  of  true  Christian  teaching.     First  of  Cain. 

As  the  Adamic  people,  by  eating  of  the  forbidden  tree,  chose 
knowledge  in  preference  to  obedience,  and  so  placed  the  cultiva- 

*  Luke  xviii.  10-14. 


THE   ERROR   OF   FAITH    ONLY.  169 

tion  of  intellect  above  the  purification  of  the  heart,  it  is  easy  to 
see  that  the  first  results  of  such  a  course  must  have  been  the 
conception  and  birth  of  faith, — yea,  faith  only,  as  a  means  of 
acceptance  with  God.  Cain  was  the  representative  of  this  prin- 
ciple; and,  consequently,  of  all  those  persons  who  acquired 
and  possessed  it.  The  name,  as  a  Hebrew  word,  denotes  acqui- 
sition or  possession.  They  believed  that  the  possession  of  re- 
ligious knowledge  was  more  necessary  to  secure  the  divine 
favour  than  the  excellency  of  a  virtuous  life.  They  knew  much, 
for  they  were  tillers  of  the  ground,— the  planters  of  knowledge 
in  the  intellect;  but  they  went  to  the  Lord  with  their  under- 
standing chiefly,  and  so  attempted  to  serve  him  with  only  one 
half  of  their  minds.  They  neglected  the  duty  required  by  the 
invitation,  "  My  son,  give  me  thy  heart."*  They  overlooked 
the  important  circumstance  that  knowledge  is  only  a  means  to 
virtue  as  an  end,  and  thus  they  rested  their  salvation  upon  the 
faith  of  thought,  rather  than  upon  the  purity  of  life.  They 
did  not  sufficiently  attend  to  the  fact,  that,  as  light  without 
heat  produces  no  fruit,  so  faith  without  charity  can  secure  no 
acceptance. 

A  doctrine  somewhat  of  this  character,  was  propounded  in 
the  Christian  Church  at  the  time  of  what  has  been  called  the 
Reformation.  It  is  thus  expressed  :  ' '  We  are  accounted  right- 
eous before  God,  only  for  the  merits  of  our  Saviour  Jesus 
Christ,  by  faith,  and  not  by  works  and  deservings  ;  wherefore, 
that  we  are  justified  hy  faith  only,  is  a  most  wholesome  doctrine, 
and  very  full  of  comfort"  if  but  there  is  no  such  doctrine  as 
this  taught  in  the  Sacred  Scriptures.  They,  indeed,  inculcate 
the  necessity  of  faith,  as  one  of  the  ingredients  of  the  Christian 
character;  but  they  never,  like  the  above  Article,  represent  it 
as  the  exclusive  virtue:  and  herein   lies  the  error;  which  the 

*  Prov.  xxiii.  26. 

fBook  of  Common  Prayer,  Eleventh  "Article  of  Religion."  Tlie  plain 
meaning  of  this  article  is  felt  by  the  learned  to  be  opposed  to  the  plain 
teachings  of  the  Scriptures  ;  and  therefore  Dr.  Burnet  says  of  it,  "  By  faith 
only  is  not  to  be  meant  faith  as  separated  from  the  other  evangelical  virtues  ; 
but  fixith  as  opposite  to  the  rites  of  the  Mosaical  lnw."— Exposition  of  the 
XXXIX  Articles.  This,  though  not  very  clear  as  an  explanation  of  the 
article,  is  satisfactory  as  a  renunciation  of  the  false  doctrine  which  it 
expresses. 


170  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

apostle  sufficiently  exposes,  when  he  says,  ' '  What  doth  it 
profit,  iny  Ijrethren,  though  a  man  say  he  hath  faith,  and  have 
not  works  ?  can  faith  save  him  ?  Faith,  if  it  hath  not  works, 
is  dead,  being  alone.  Ye  see  how  that  by  works  a  man  is  justi- 
fied, and  not  by  faith  onhj.'^  Tlie  doctrine  of  faith  only  has  been 
very  disastrous  to  the  Church,  and  contributed  very  extensively 
to  the  dangers  by  which  she  has  been  assailed.  Although  it  is 
now,  happily,  l^ecoming  a  mere  theory,  which  most  sensible 
persons  are  abandoning,  yet  it  was  not  always  so.  Luther  said, 
' '  The  ten  commandments  do  not  belong  to  us  Christians,  but 
only  to  the  Jews:  we  will  not  admit  that  any  the  least  precept 
of  Moses  be  imposed  on  us.  Therefore,  look  that  Moses, 
with  all  his  law,  be  sent  a  packing  in  malem  rem — with  a  mis- 
chief ' '  :t  and  the  Church  sometimes  acts  as  though  it  still  be- 
lieved this  abomination.  This  is  conspicuous  in  the  case  of 
great  criminals,  who,  having  forfeited  their  lives  by  a  transgres- 
sion of  God's  commandments,  are  told  to  have  faith,  and 
expect  salvation. 

A  regard  to  faith,  as  the  chief  thing  of  the  Church,  was  the 
first  heresy  of  the  Adamic  people.  It  was  conceived  when  the 
woman  ate  of  the  tree  of  knowledge,  and  born  when  Eve  said, 
"  I  have  gotten  a  man,  Jehovah." 

There  are  two  things  which  belong  to  a  church,  its  wisdom 
and  its  love.  With  the  good,  wisdom  is  as  a  husband,  and  love 
as  a  wife.  The  Church,  at  the  time  here  treated  of,  was,  as  to 
its  wisdom,  represented  by  Adam,  and  as  to  its  love,  by  his 
wife.  But  we  are  informed  that  "  Adam  called  his  wife's  name 
Eve,"  X  that  is,  "  life."  The  word  Eve  is  a  contraction  of  the 
Hebrew  charah,^  and  answers  very  closely  to  the  word  Zoe,  by 
which  it  is  rendered  in  the  Septuagint,  both  of  which  signify 
"life."  Now,  why  was  she  so  called?  It  will  be  replied, 
"  Because  she  was  the  mother  of  all  living"  :  but  surely  some- 
thing more  is  meant  by  this  than  what  is  so  expressed.     There 

*  Jas.  ii.  14-24. 

t  Luther's  Works,  vol.  1,  published  at  Wiirteiuburg,  p.  147,  cited  iu  the 
"Intellectual  Repository"  of  1828,  p.  80.  Aud  in  coutinuiug  the  para- 
graph, he  says  that  Moses  ".should  be  held  suspected  for  a  heretic,  cursed 
aud  damned,  and  worse  than  the  Pope  or  the  devil." 

t  Geu.  iii.  20.  ^  See  Marginal  Reading. 


FAITH    WITHOUT    CHARITY.  171 

is  only  one  fountain  of  life,  that  is,  the  Lord :  it  is  because  He 
lives  that  we  live:  *  it  is  in  Him  we  live,  and  move,  and  have 
our  being,  t  In  a  merely  literal  sense,  there  is  no  more  reason 
why  she  should  be  called  life,  from  the  circumstance  of  being  the 
first  mother,  than  that  Adam  should  have  been  so  called,  on  the 
ground  of  his  having  been  the  first  father;  and  for  other  reasons, 
if  the  literal  sense  had  been  meant,  it  might  have  been  equally 
appropriate.!  The  fact  of  this  name  having  been  given  to  her, 
shows  that  something  more  recondite  is  intended.  Adam  called 
his  wife's  name  life,  because  the  Church,  as  to  wisdom,  knows 
that  the  Church,  as  to  love  or  affection,  is  life;  it  is  a  living 
thing  with  men,  and  so  the  spiritual  mother  of  all  its  living 
excellence.  It  is  well  known  that  the  Scriptures  speak  of  the 
Church  as  a  mother:  the  apostle  distinctly  asserts,  that  it  is 
"the  mother  of  us  all  " :  §  so  that  the  idea  which  Moses,  in 
respect  to  Eve,  has  symbolically  indicated,  the  apostle  has 
literally  expressed. 

Now,  a  church  can  give  birth  to  nothing  but  such  things  as 
pertain  to  faith  and  charity;  but  the  quality  of  those  descend- 
ants will  depend  upon  the  character  of  the  parent.  A  corrupted 
fountain  must  send  forth  a  turbid  stream.  Grapes  do  not  grow 
on  thorns,  nor  figs  on  thistles.  Eve  had  fallen,  and  her  first 
offspring  was  Cain,  or  faith,  concerning  which  she  said,  "I 
have  gotten  a  man,  Jehovah,"  to  express  the  idea  that  faith, 
without  charity,  was  now  considered  to  be  sufficient  for  the 
purposes  of  the  Church.  Before  this  time,  faith  had  not 
become  a  separate  object  of  thought;  it  was  united  with  love, 
and  formed  one  with  it.  But  now  it  began  to  exist  as  a  dis- 
tinct principle  in  the  mind,  and  also  to  be  espoused  by  a  people 
as  the  essential  thing  for  their  salvation.  The  Church,  having 
acquired  the  doctrine  of  faith,  is  described  as  "  getting  a  man." 

*  John  xiv.  19.  t  Acts  xvii.  28. 

t  Svvedeuborg  states  "  that  the  soul  is  from  the  father,  and  the  body  from 
the  mother  ;  for  the  soul  is  in  the  seed  of  the  father,  and  is  clothed  with  a 
body  iu  the  womb  of  the  mother  ;  or  what  amounts  to  the  same,  all  tlie 
spiritual  part  of  a  man  is  from  the  father,  and  all  the  material  part  from  the 
mother." — True  Christian  Religion,  No.  92. 

I  Gal.  iv.  26. 


172  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    IXSPIRATIOX. 

and  to  indicate  its  relation  to  the  Lord,  the  term  "Jehovah" 
is  appended  thereto.* 

By  Cain,  then,  is  to  be  understood,  the  doctrine  of  salvation 
by  faith  separate  from  charity,  and,  consequently,  a  people  by 
whom  this  tenet  was  held.  In  this  we  discover  what  was  the 
first  heresy,  and  who  were  the  first  heretics.  This  doctrine  was 
an  enormity,  and,  therefore,  God  is  recorded  to  have  had  no 
respect  to  its  offerings.  That  which  constituted  their  faith  was 
actual  knowledge.  They  saw  the  o]:)jects  in  which  it  was  neces- 
sar}^  to  believe,  with  certainty  and  clearness,  but  they  rested  in 
their  knowledge  as  an  intellectual  possession,  considering  it  the 
all  of  religion,  and  so  allowed  the  affections  to  go  astray  and  to 
revel  in  their  lusts. 

But  the  doctrine  of  faith  only,  which  has  sprung  up  in  the 
Christian  Church,  is  not  precisely  of  this  character.  Its  mem- 
bers do  not  see  that  the  objects  in  which  they  are  taught  to 
believe  are  really  true.  Indeed  it  is  openly  stated,  that  they 
are  mysteries  for  faith,  and  not  matters  for  comprehension:  thus 
it  is  the  dictate  of  authority,  and  not  the  result  of  knowledge. 
If  a  thing  be  not  understood,  how  is  it  known  to  be  true? 
What  assurance  is  there  that  it  is  not  false  ?  To  sa}^  that  God 
has  said  so,  and  that,  therefore,  it  is  to  be  believed,  is  assuming 

*  The  Authorized  Version  represents  Eve  as  sajinfjc,  upon  the  birth  of  Cain, 
"I  have  gotten  a  man  from  the  Lord."  The  original  does  not  express  the 
idea  "from  the  Lord  "  :  there  is  nothing  answering  to  the  word  from.  It  is 
eth  Jehovah,  i.  e.,  tlie  Jehovah  ;  and  not  meeth  Jehovah,  i.  e.,  from  the  Jehovah. 
The  passage  is  considered  to  be  one  of  great  difficulty.  The  former  sentence 
is  thought  to  liiive  been  an  elliptical  mode  of  expressing  the  latter  idea,  so 
that  the  whole  is  interpreted  to  mean,  that  Eve  had  gotten  a  man  through  the 
blessing  of  the  Lord.  The  Septuagint  and  Vulgate  so  render  the  original. 
This  construction  might  be  satisfactory,  if  the  premises  on  which  it  rested 
were  not  suppositions  ;  but  that  being  the  case,  we  are  at  liberty  to  doubt. 
Besides  this  conjecture,  it  has  been  said,  because  the  name  Jehovah  is  some- 
times applied  to  places  (see  Gen.  xxii.  14  ;  Exod.  xvii.  15  ;  Judg.  vi.  24,  &c.), 
and  is  also  admissive  of  being  represented  by  the  term  Lord,  which  is  fre- 
quently applied  to  men,  that  Eve's  statement,  "I  have  gotten  a  man  from 
the  Lord,"  is  a  mere  acknowledgment  to  her  husband  of  Cain's  paternity  : 
but  this  notion  has  no  foundation  in  true  criticism.  The  correct  translation 
is,  ''I  have  gotten  a  man,  Jehovah"  ;  in  this  sense  it  might  indicate  an 
acknowledgment  in  the  form  of  "Jehovah,  I  have  gotten  a  man."  Under 
this  view  it  agrees  with  the  spiritual  sense  given  above. 


THE    OBJECTS    OF    FAITH    SAID    TO    BE    MYSTERIOUS.         173 

the  very  point  in  question.  Has  God  really  said  what  is  gen- 
erally, required  to  be  believed?  Has  He  declared  unintelligi- 
bilities  for  the  faith  of  man  ?  That  Avhich  is  not.  rationally  seen 
to  be  true  does  not  contribute  anything  to  the  development  of 
affection  or  to  the  enlargement  of  thought:  and  hence  we  find 
religious  society  at  a  standstill  in  every  situation  where  it  has 
been  touched  with  the  paralyzing  wand  of  faith  only.  But 
though  this  doctrine  in  the  Christian  Church  (because  arising 
from  an  obscurity  under  which  the  things  of  faith  are  contem- 
plated) is  less  malignant  in  its  nature  than  that  which  was  rep- 
resented by  Cain,  still  it  is  the  same  in  kind,  and  must  be  fatal 
in  its  results. 

Much  ingenuity  has  been  exercised  in  the  defence  of  this 
extraordinary  tenet.  But  the  inventions  of  talent  cannot  suc- 
cessfully maintain  what  is  essentially  false.  It  is  possible,  by 
avoiding  some  main  point  of  an  inquiry,  to  make  a  show  of 
argument  in  favour  of  any  falsehood,  and  so,  for  the  moment, 
to  embarrass  even  truth  itself.  Men  who  are  disposed  to 
believe  the  worse  to  be  the  better  cause,  will  find  assertions  to 
defend  their  notions.  It  is  possible  to  make  black  appear 
white,  by  looking  at  the  feathers  of  a  raven  in  a  certain  angle 
with  the  sun.  But  all  such  courses  are  delusive,  and  they  will 
terminate,  like  the  offering  of  faith  alone,  in  disappointment  and 
rejection.  That  doctrine  is  similar  to  the  light  of  the  sun  with- 
out its  heat;  like  summer  without  its  fruits;  like  winter,  cold, 
fierce,  and  chilling. 

Here,  however,  by  faith  alone  we  do  not  merely  mean  the 
tenet  as  it  is  propounded  by  certain  branches  of  the  professing 
Christian  world;  because  we  can  see  that  it  may  practically  exist 
within  the  pale  of  a  genuine  church.  Persons  may  join  her 
community  and  learn  her  truths  so  as  to  know  them  with  a 
rational  persuasion,  and  yet  they  may  not  love  them  so  as  to 
realize  the  virtues  to  which  they  point.  It  is  this  practical 
view  of  the  case,  rather  than  the  mental  persuasion,  which  is 
the  real  antitype  of  Cain. 

Faith  cannot  bring  an  acceptable  offering  to  God,  unless  it  be 
conjoined  with  charity;  and  charity  is  not  a  theory,  but  an  act. 
Faith  is  the  knowledge  and  consciousness  that  certain  things  of 
religion  are  true;  for  if  they  be  not  true,  they  are  not  worth 


174  THE    AVORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

believing.  If  men  believe  without  a  persuasion  from  such 
sources,  their  faith  is  blind:  and  if,  in  such  a  state,  they  should 
rely  upon  something  that  is  false,  it  must  necessarily  exercise  an 
injurious  influence  upon  their  intellectual  life.  Faith  then,  con- 
sidered in  its  solitary  character,  is  the  mere  knowledge  of  truth; 
and  this  faith  is  more  or  less  expansive  and  enlightened,  as  the 
truths  which  form  it  are  more  and  more  abundantly  increased. 

Here  it  may  be  inquired,  If  the  knowledge  of  truth  be  one  of 
the  constituents  of  faith,  why  are  its  offerings  not  acceptable  to 
God,  seeing  that,  as  truth,  it  must  have  originated  in  Him  ? 

The  answer  is,  that  although  truth  does  originate  in  God,  yet 
it  does  not  descend  from  him  as  a  solitary  principle.  In  him  it 
is  eternally  associated  with  good,  and  with  this  it  comes  from 
Him  to  man:  man  has  separated  them.  He  has  put  asunder  what 
God  has  joined  together,  and,  in  rejecting  the  princij^le  of  good, 
on  which  the  quality  of  truth  depended  for  its  excellence,  there 
can  be  only  a  dead,  and  not  a  living  faith.  Moreover,  the  truth 
which  is  necessary  to  the  formation  of  faith  is  only  a  means  to 
an  end,  and  the  end  cannot  be  secured  Ijy  a  mere  belief  in  the 
means.  All  believe  that  a  good  claj^'s  M'ork  may  be  done  by 
industry  and  diligence:  this  is  believed  because  experience  has 
proved  it  true;  yet  it  is  certain  that  mere  belief  will  not  do  the 
work.  The  case  is  similar  in  religious  things.  We  must  emi)loy 
the  truths  we  know  to  obtain  the  goods  they  teach,  before  they 
can  become  an  acceptable  offering  to  God.  A  further  reason 
why  mere  faith  cannot  present  an  accei')table  offering  to  Him  is, 
because  it  is  not  morally  beneficial  to  us.  Nevertheless,  faith  is 
tlie  first  principle  to  which  the  Church  gives  birth — like  Cain,  it 
is  first-born; — a  man  must  first  learn  to  speak  and  think,  then 
to  investigate  and  know  the  things  of  religion;  but  to  stop  at 
this  point  is  to  consider  that  religious  principles  are  formed, 
when,  in  fact,  they  are  only  known;  and  this  is  to  resuscitate 
the  character  of  Cain.  Faith,  without  charity,  is  nothing:  for 
tlie  apostle  has  most  eloquently  said,  "Though  I  have  the  gift 
of  pro})hecy,  and  understand  all  mysteries,  and  all  knowledge; 
and  tiiough  I  have  all  faith,  so  that  I  could  remove  mountains, 
and  have  not  charity,  I  am  nothing."* 

Much  difficulty  has  been  experienced  by  the  Church  in  deter- 

*  1  Cor.  xiii.  2. 


TRUTH  ALONE  NOT  AN  ACCEPTABLE  OFFERING.       175 

mining  whether  faith  or  charity  was  the  primary  principle. 
This  is  a  consequence  of  not  distinguishing  between  faith  as 
being  the  first  in  respect  to  time,  and  charity  as  being  chief  in 
respect  to  end.  It  may  now  be  easily  removed,  and  the  facts 
familiarly  illustrated.  For  example:  in  building  a  temple, 
the  first  thing,  in  respect  to  time,  is  to  lay  the  foundation,  erect 
the  walls,  cover  them  with  a  roof,  and  afterwards  provide  the 
altar  and  raise  the  pulpit;  but  the  chief  thing  in  respect  to  end 
i:^,  that  God  may  be  worshipped  therein.  So,  again,  with  re- 
gard to  the  building  of  a  house:  the  first  thing  in  regard  to 
time  is  to  build  the  external  parts  of  it,  and  then  to  provide  the 
requisite  conveniences  within;  but  the  first  thing  in  regard  to 
end,  is  a  commodious  dwelling  for  the  master  and  his  family. 
Illustrations  of  this  kind  are  abundant.  They  show,  most  con- 
clusively, that  faith  is  first  with  respect  to  time,  because  it  is  a 
means  to  charity  as  an  end:  and  hence  Cain,  by  whom  this 
faith  is  represented,  is  described  to  have  been  first  born. 

This  representation  of  Cain  is  farther  sustained  by  the  occu- 
pation in  which  he  is  said  to  have  been  engaged.  He  was  a 
tiller  of  the  ground ;  and  by  this  is  spiritually  signified  a  planter 
of  knowledges  in  the  understanding  merely.  That  this  was  the 
character  of  Cain — that  is,  of  all  those  people  of  that  most 
nncient  time  who  adopted  the  heresy  of  faith  separate  from 
charity — appears  from  all  the  circumstances  Avhich  are  related 
of  him,  and  especially  from  these,  that  his  offering  was  rejected, 
and  that  he  slew  his  l)rother. 

This  brings  us  to  inquire  concerning  Abel.  Ancient  writers 
abound  in  observations  on  his  mystical  character,*  and  he  has 
very  commonly  been  regarded  as  the  representative  of  the  pas- 
toral tribes,  in  like  manner  as  Cain  has  been  considered  the  author 
of  the  nomadic  life.  Thus,  his  representative  character  seems 
to  be.  admitted,  though  some  obscurity  may  be  felt  as  to  what  he 

*  Chrysostom,  Horn,  in  Gen.  xviii.  5;  Augustin,  De  Civitaie  Dei,  xv.  1  ; 
Irenaeus,  Contra  HiBres.,  iii.  23,  so  speak  of  him.  Dr.  Darwin,  in  his  Botani- 
cal Garden,  Art.  Portland  Vase,  sjieaking  of  the  opinions  Avhich  have  been 
held  concerning  tlie  early  personages  of  the  Bible,  says,  "  Aliel  was  the 
name  of  an  hieroglyphical  figure  representing  the  age  of  Pasturage,  and 
Cain  the  name  of  another  hieroglyphical  symbol  representing  the  age  of 
Agriculture." 


176  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

signified.  From  what  is  written  concerning  him  in  the  Word, 
we  think  it  is  evident  that  he  was  the  rei)resentative  of  charity. 
Abel,  as  a  Hebrew  term,  denotes  humility,  also  weakness: 
humility,  to  denote  a  characteristic  of  charity,  and  weakness,  to 
express  its  modesty  and  sweetness;  as  well,  perhaps,  as  to  indi- 
cate the  limited  number  of  society  by  whom  it  was  loved  and 
practised.  Abel  is  said  to  have  been  the  brother  of  Cain,  to 
inform  us  that  charity  is  a  near  relative  to  faith.  The  Scrip- 
tures continually  speak  of  the  intimate  connection  between 
these  two  principles  of  the  Church,  and  man  has  been  merci- 
fully gifted  with  two  faculties  for  their  reception:  the  will  for 
charity,  the  understanding  for  faith.  But  although  there  is  a 
spiritual  brotherhood  subsisting  between  these  two  principles, 
the  universal  experience  of  mankind  is,  that  the  things  of  faith 
are  more  forward  and  urgent  than  the  affections  of  charity. 
Charity,  though  the  sweeter  and  more  gentle  excellence  of  the 
Church,  is  too  frequently  lorded  over  by  the  more  daring  and 
presumptuous  influence  of  faith.  The  affections  of  good  are 
well  known  to  be  more  feeble  than  the  perceptions  of  truth. 
Abel  is  modest  and  retiring,  Cain  is  bold  and  confident.  Faith 
struggles  for  command  and  mastery,  and  it  is  too  frequently 
inattentive  to  the  weaker  but  inner  sensations  of  charity.  Most 
persons  have  felt  a  desire  to  do  good  when  a  suitable  oppor- 
tunity has  been  presented,  but  how  many  have  had  it  set  aside 
by  the  influence  of  some  selfish  persuasion!  How  frequently 
does  talent  endeavour  to  place  itself  as  a  substitute  for  virtue! 
Cleverness  has  sometimes  been  mistaken  for  goodness.  These 
facts  are  too  common  to  have  escaped  the  attention  of  those 
who  observe  what  is  taking  place  around  them.  But  it  may 
have  occurred  to  them  that,  in  these  phenomena,  the}^  were 
beholding  the  struggles  of  two  spiritual  brothers:  the  efforts  of 
faith  to  secure  an  ascendancy  over  charity:  the  sternness  of 
Cain  displaying  its  prowess  to  subdue  the  modesty  of  Abel; 
and  which  circumstance,  in  after  times,  was  also  represented  by 
Jacob  taking  away  the  birthright  and  blessing  of  his  brother 
Esau,*  by  Pharez  gaining  the  primogeniture  from  his  brother 
Zarah,f  and  by  Ephraim  obtaining  the  position  which  belonged 
to  his  brother  Manasseh.| 

*Geu.  xxvii.  36.     f  Gen.  xxxviii.  27  to  the  end.     J  Gen.  xlviii.  18  to  the  end. 


SIGNIFICATION    OF    A    SHEPHERD.  177 

It  is  because  Abel  represented  cbarity,  and,  consequently, 
tbose  who  were  principled  in  it,  that  the  Lord  called  him  "the 
righteous  Abel,"*  and  that  the  apostle  spoke  of  his  offering  as 
being  the  "more  excellent  sacrifice. "f  His  occupation,  as  a 
"keeper  of  sheep,"  will  farther  exemplif}^  this  fact. 

The  Scriptures  very  frequently  employ  the  idea  of  a  shepherd, 
as  well  as  the  expression,  to  denote  one  who  exercises  the  good 
of  charity.  It  is  on  this  account  that  the  Psalmist  said,  "The 
Lord  is  my  shepherd;  I  shall  not  want."  |  He  is  essential 
charity;  and  from  this  principle  he  is  perpetually  engaged  in 
watching  over  the  welfare  and  providing  for  the  wants  of  man- 
kind: hence,  also,  it  is  written  of  Him,  "  He  shall  feed  his  flock 
like  a  shepherd:  he  shall  gather  the  lambs  into  his  arms,  and 
carry  them  in  his  bosom,  and  gently  lead  them  that  are  with 
young";  §  a  passage  beautifully  expressive  of  the  Lord's  affec- 
tionate tenderness  for  the  people  of  his  pasture,  and  his  charitable 
solicitude  for  the  sheep  of  his  hands.  Peter  was  contemplated 
as  a  shepherd,  when  the  Lord  directed  him  to  feed  his  sheep:  || 
he  was  expected  to  exercise  an  enlightened  charity  in  the  apos- 
tolic office  to  which  he  was  appointed.  Ministers  of  the  Gospel 
are  sometimes  called  pastors,  that  is,  shepherds,  for  the  same 
reason.  He  who  leads  and  teaches  what  is  good  is  called  a 
shepherd,  and  those  who  are  led  and  taught,  are  called  the 
flock.  The  Scriptures  represent  the  good  shepherd  to  love  his 
sheep,  and  to  care  for  the  safety  and  unity  of  the  flock;  but  the 
hireling  shepherd  is  described  as  one  who  leaveth  them,  and  in 
times  of  danger  fleeth,  so  as  to  allow  them  to  be  scattered.  The 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  said,  "I  am  the  good  shepherd,  and  know 
my  sheep, and  am  known  of  mine  "  :  ^  and  the  Church  he  called 
a  sheepfold.**  The  reason  for  these  descriptions  is  that  a 
shepherd  is  the  emblem  of  that  charity  which  carefully  watches 
over  the  things  of  innocence,  gentleness,  and  purity,  in  the 
human  mind:  and  this  is  said  to  have  been  the  occupation  of 
Abel,  because  he  was  a  representative  of  this  excellence. 

Thus  we  learn  that  by  Cain,  as  a  tiller  of  the  ground,  was 

*Matt.  xxiii.  35.  fHeb.  xi.  4.  J  Psa.  xxiii.  1. 

?  Isa.  xl.  11.  II  John  xxi.  16.  f  John  x.  14. 

**  Jolin  X.  1. 

14  ' 


178  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

denoted  faith,  engaged  in  planting  knowledge  in  the  intellect 
merely;  and  that  by  Abel,  as  a  keeper  of  sheep,  was  signified 
charit}',  chiefly  emj^loyed  in  promoting  the  good  things  of  use: 
consequently,  that  they  represented  two  classes  of  persons  in 
the  most  ancient  Church,  to  whom  those  principles  respectively 
belonged.  These  conclusions  will  be  corroborated  by  other 
evidences  to  be  adduced  in  the  succeeding  chapter. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

THE  OFFERINGS  OF  CAIN  AND  ABEL :  WHY  THE  OFFERING  OF 
ABEL  WAS  RESPECTED,  AND  THAT  OF  CAIN  REJECTED. 

"Truth  is  like  the  dew  of  heaven;   in  order  to  preserve  it  pure,  it  must  be  collected 
in  a  pure  vessel." — St.  Pierre. 

The  offerings  of  Cain  and  Abel  are  the  first  intimations  of 
divine  worship  that  are  recorded.  The  subject  is  thus  related: 
"  In  process  of  time  it  came  to  pass,  that  Cain  brought  of  the 
fruit  of  the  ground  an  offering  unto  the. Lord.  And  Abel,  he 
also  brought  of  the  firstlings  of  his  flock  and  of  the  fat  thereof. 
And  the  Lord  had  respect  unto  Abel  and  his  offering:  but  unto 
Cain  and  to  his  offering  he  had  not  respect. ' '  *  Now  whence 
could  the  idea  of  divine  worship  have  originated  ?  It  can  be 
satisfactorily  accounted  for  only  by  admitting  that  a  Church 
existed,  to  which  a  knowledge  of  that  duty  had  been  communi- 
cated. It  is  true,  we  do  not  read  of  any  command  having  been 
given  upon  this  subject;  this  was  not  requisite,  because  we 
think  it  was  implied  in  the  offering,  and  necessarily  included 
in  the  process  by  which  the  Church  was  developed;  of  which 
we  have  previously  treated.  The  worship  of  the  Lord  must 
have  been  one  of  its  conspicuous  features;  it  naturally  belonged 
to  the  Paradisiacal  state  of  the  Adamic  people.  Their  fall  would 
induce  a  neglect  of  the  essential  things  of  this  duty,  but  not  a 
complete  forgetfulness  of  it:  that  calamity  would  also  lead  to  a 
difference  in  the  quality  of  the  worship,  but  not  to  its  entire 
abandonment.  Cain  and  Abel,  therefore,  must  have  learnt  the 
duty  of  divine  worship  from  the  Church  that  was  extant,  and 
the  difference  in  their  offerings  must  have  originated  in  the 
different  perceptions  of  that  duty,  then  in  the  process  of  being 
manifested. 

But  how  are  we  to  understand  their  offerings  ?  Are  they  to 
be  interpreted  as  meaning  the  physical  tilings  described,  as  was 

*  Gen.  iv.  .3-5. 

179 


180  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

afterwards  the  case  in  the  Jewish  Church,  or  are  they  mentioned 
only  because  they  are  the  symbols  of  certain  things  of  the  mind, 
by  which  all  worship  must  be  performed?  We  think  the  latter, 
and  not  the  former,  is  the  view  which  ought  to  be  taken  of  the 
case.  Although  men  had  fallen,  they  had  not  forgotten  that 
natural  things  were  the  emblems  of  spiritual  sentiments  and 
love,  nor  had  they  yet  ceased  to  speak  of  them  as  such;  these 
Avere  subsequent  occurrences.  A  really  ceremonious  worship 
did  not  come  into  existence  until  men  had  lost  all  spiritual 
ideas  of  worship:  when  this  took  place,  they  began  to  worship 
the  Lord  with  those  objects  which  their  ancestors  had  only 
spoken  of  as  the  symbols  of  those  mental  affections  and  thoughts 
Avith  which  they  had  worshipped.  Having  lost  sight  of  the 
spiritual  reality,  they  began  to  worship  with  the  natural  repre- 
sentation; and  this  was  the  origin  of  that  ceremonial  worship 
subsequently  arranged  among  the  descendants  of  Abram.  It 
was  then  instituted,  not  only  as  the  shadow  of  better  things  to 
come,  but,  also,  as  the  types  of  those  precious  things  which  had 
perished. 

At  the  time  of  Cain  and  Abel,  the  people  had  not  sunk  into 
so  low  a  condition  as  that  which  afterwards  required  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  ceremonial  religion:  worship  of  the  Lord  from 
some  interior  principle  still  prevailed  among  them;  and  as  all 
such  principles  were  known  to  them  to  have  their  correspond- 
ence in  natural  objects,  such  objects  would  he  mentioned  in 
connection  with  their  worship,  to  signify  spiritual  things  only. 
If  they  spoke  of  the  firstfruits,  or  of  a  lamb,  as  offerings  to  the 
Lord,  it  would  not  be  to  indicate  those  natural  things,  but  sym- 
bolically to  express  some  internal  sentiment  of  truth  and  love: 
this  we  conceive  must  have  been  the  case  with  the  offerings  of 
Cain  and  Abel. 

It  is  well  known  that  offerings,  under  the  ceremonial  law, 
were  acts  of  worship;  that  is,  not  worship  in  themsc^lves,  but 
types  of  those  spiritual  and  heavenly  principles  from  which  it 
must  arise.  This  must  be  obvious  to  every  one  who  will  reflect. 
The  offering,  apart  from  the  sentiment  which  it  represented, 
could  be  of  no  religious  value.  In  such  a  case  it  would  be  an 
external  without  a  corresponding  internal,  like  a  Itody  without 
a  soul,   or  a  dumb   idol.      External  acts  of  worship   are  mere 


THE    REPRESEXTATION    OF    OFFERINGS.  181 

ceremonies,  unless  they  are  sanctified  ))y  the  adoration  of  the 
heart.  What  are  the  pra3'ers  of  the  lips  but  .mere  babbling, 
unless  the  affection  of  the  mind  be  in  them?  All  such  acts  are 
valuable  onl}-  so  far  as  there  is  a  corresponding  intention  in 
them :  they  must  be  attended  with  an  internal  love  to  give  them 
sanctity,  and  render  them  acceptable.  The  offerings,  then,  as 
forms  of  worship,  were  significant  of  mental  and  spiritual  affec- 
tions, in  which  the  real  virtue  and  efficacy  of  the  worship  con- 
sist. 

Offerings  are  presents:  this  is  the  idea  which  the  word  liter- 
ally expresses;  and  the  original  ma}^  with  propriety  be  so  trans- 
lated. But  presents  in  general  are  intended  to  testify  the  es- 
teem which  we  entertain  for  those  to  whom  we  give  them ;  and 
the  will  or  intention  is  regarded  by  him  who  receives  them  as 
of  greater  value  than  the  thing  presented.  If  this  be  true, 
then  the  things  which  are  presented  to  God  must  be  tokens  ex- 
pressive of  such  sentiments  of  gratitude  and  love  as  are  cher- 
ished by  the  offerer;  and  God  must  be  considered  to  receive 
them,  not  for  the  value  of  the  things  themselves,  "for  the 
world  is  his,  and  the  fulness  thereof,"*  but  wholly  for  the  sake 
of  the  affections  by  which  the}^  are  accompanied.  It  is  upon 
this  principle  that  the  Lord  said,  "  If  thou  bring  thy  gift  to  the 
altar,  and  there  rememberest  that  thy  brother  hath  aught 
against  thee;  leave  there  thy  gift  before  the  altar,  and  go  thy 
Avay;  first  be  reconciled  to  thy  brother,  and  then  come  and 
off er  thy  gift. " t  Here  it  is  plain  that  the  offering  was  consid- 
ered as  the  S3'mbol  of  an  inward  sentiment  of  love  and  charity, 
because  reconciliation  with  a  brother  was  necessary  to  render  it 
acceptable. 

Seeing,  then,  what  an  offering  to  the  Lord  involves,  we  may 
readily  perceive  that  the  things  which  were  arranged  for  this 
purpose  under  the  representative  law  were  intended  to  signify 
particular  states  of  the  affection  and  thought  of  those  who  wor- 
shipped. We  find  that  lambs  and  rams,  shee]^  and  oxen,  goats 
and  calves,  doves  and  pigeons,  and  flour  and  oil,  were  directed 
to  be  presented  to  the  Lord.  Moreover,  some  of  them  were  to 
be  offered  under  special  circumstances.  There  were  sin-offer- 
ings,    meat-offerings,     drink-offerings,     heave-offerings,     wave- 

*  Psa.  1.  12.  t  Matt.  v.  23,  24. 


182  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

offei'ings,  peane-offerings,  and  trespass-offerings,  to  each  of 
which  specific  ceremonies  were  attached.  Tliese  various  offer- 
ings were  evidently  intended  (or  why  else  were  they  so  many, 
and  one  thing  selected  for  their  celebration  in  preference  to 
another?)  to  show  forth,  in  a  representative  manner,  the  several 
states  of  affection  and  thought  which,  under  various  circum- 
stances, become  characteristics  of  the  worshipper. 

The  offerings  under  the  Levitical  law  seem  generally  to  in- 
clude the  ideas  of  death  and  consumption  by  fire.  These, 
however,  were  the  results  which  attended  the  introduction  of 
sacrificial  worship,  rather  than  the  natural  concomitants  of  the 
primitive  offerings;  they  did  not  involve  those  circumstances, 
and  therefore  they  are  not  mentioned  in  connection  with  those 
of  Cain  and  Abel;  this  may  be  taken  as  evidence  that  they  are 
stated  only  for  the  sake  of  the  symbols  which  they  afforded. 
AVe  are  merely  informed  of  what  they  consisted,  but  not  of  the 
manner  in  which  they  were  presented:  it  is  then  simply  the 
meaning  of  those  offerings  into  which  we  have  to  inquire.  First 
of   Cain's: — 

Cain,  or  the  religion  of  faith  without  charity,  has  its  offerings, 
that  is  to  say,  its  modes  and  principles  of  worship.  It  was  in 
the  process  of  time  ' '  that  Cain  brought  of  the  fruit  of  the  ground 
an  offering  unto  the  Lord."  From  this  it  would  appear,  that 
the  characteristics  of  the  worship  which  now  distinguished  Cain 
were  not  developed  all  at  once:  they  were  results  brought  about 
ia  the  process  of  time.  Thus  it  Avas  not  so  far  separated  from 
charity  in  the  beginning  as  it  afterwards  became.  The  last  state 
was  worse  than  the  first:  it  was  about  this  period  when  "Cain 
l)rought  of  tli«  fruit  of  the  ground  an  offering  unto  the  Lord." 
What,  then,  is  meant  by  the  fruit  of  the  ground  ?  It  will  be 
remembered  that  Adam,  when  sent  forth  from  the  garden  of 
Eden,  was  to  till  the  ground  whence  he  was  taken;  and,  in  treat- 
ing of  that  circumstance  in  a  preceding  chapter,  it  was  shown 
that  the  ground  Avas  significant  of  the  external  man.  That  is 
the  ground  on  which  the  spiritual  and  celestial  things  of  the 
internal  man  rest,  as  a  house  upon  its  foundation.  It  is  com- 
pared to  the  ground,  because  it  is  to  the  things  of  the  mind  what 
the  earth  is  to  the  body.  The  apostle  says,  "  That  which  is  first 
is  not  spiritual,  but  natural;  "   and  then  of  this  first  he  says,  it 


THE    OFFERING    OF    CAIN.  183 

is  "  of  the  earth,  earthy."*  The  Lord  said,  "The  kingdom  of 
God  is  as  if  a  man  should  cast  seed  into  the  ground ;^'f  and  also, 
in  explanation  of  the  parable  of  the  sower,  he  said,  "  He  that 
received  seed  into  good  ground  is  he  that  heareth  the  word,  and 
understandetli  it;  which  also  beareth  fruit,  and  bringeth  forth, 
some  an  hundredfold.  "|  In  these  instances  it  is  plain  that  by 
the  ground  is  meant  the  external  man,  and  to  sow  seed  therein 
denotes  to  implant  truths,  that  they  may  grow  up  and  produce 
the  leaves  of  faith  and  the  fruits  of  love. 

Now  it  is  to  be  remarked  that  Cain  did  not  bring  for  an  offer- 
ing the  fruit  of  those  seeds.  Although  he  was  a  tiller  of  the 
ground,  yet  he  only  brought  of  the  fruit  of  the  ground,  and  not 
of  the  fruit  of  the  seeds,  which,  as  a  tiller  of  it,  he  had  sown 
therein.  This  is  a  distinction  of  the  highest  consequence,  to  be 
carefully  observed,  in  order  rightly  to  understand  the  subject. 
The  sentiments  of  revelation  are  couched  in  choice  expressions; 
and  the  fruit  of  the  ground  is  spoken  of  as  the  offering  of  Cain, 
because  it  denoted  the  works  of  the  merely  external  man. 

What  is  the  external  man  ?  It  is  not  the  physical  structure, 
but  all  those  knowledges  and  affections  which  are  gathered 
thereby  from  the  outer  world,  and  which  then  form,  as  it  were, 
tlie  external  of  his  spirit.  The  natural  body  is  only  the  outer- 
most covering,  within  which,  the  external  of  which  we  are 
speaking,  and  the  spiritual  man,  reside  during  its  location  in 
this  world. 

The  internnl  man  is  so  constituted  that  it  can  perceive  and  love 
the  things  of  heaven,  and  the  external  is  such  that  it  can  learn 
and  delight  in  the  things  of  the  Avorld.  With  the  good  these 
two  act  as  one,  the  internal  illuminating  and  guiding  the  exter- 
nal, as  the  efficient  cause  of  all  its  works  of  use  and  order.  With 
those  who  are  not  good  it  is  not  so.  In  that  case,  the  internal 
is  more  or  less  closed,  according  to  the  quality  and  extent  of  the 
evil  that  is  loved,  and  the  external  man  only  remains  in  activity; 
this  it  derives  from  the  love  of  self  and  the  love  of  the  world. 
A  man  in  such  a  state  is  not  necessarily  deprived  of  religious 
information:  he  may  store  his  memory  with  its  doctrines,  become 
acquainted  with  its  duties,  and  acquire  the  ability  of  speaking  of 
them  with  fluency  and  force,   but  his  motives  in  doing  these 

*  1  Cor.  XV.  46-49.  t  Mark  iv.  26.  J  Matt.  xiii.  23. 


184  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

things  will  wholly  arise  from  the  loves  of  self  and  of  the  world. 
The  quality  of  the  external  man,  when  separated  from  the 
internal,  is  worldly;  and  all  that  it  produces  is  with  a  view  to 
selfish  ends. 

This,  then,  is  the  ground,  and  such  is  the  fruit  thereof.  The 
religion  of  a  man  like  this  is  obviously  nothing  more  than 
knowledge  and  its  forms :  it  has  no  soul  from  above,  its  life  is 
from  below.  How  can  the  fruits  of  this  ground  be  acceptable  to 
God  ?  We  see  at  once  that  it  cannot  be  respected.  It  rejects 
the  great  principle  involved  in  the  invitations,  "  My  son,  give  me 
thy  heart;  "  "  Let  thy  heart  keep  my  commandments.  "*  These 
circumstances,  then,  fully  explain  the  case  of  Cain's  offering 
not  being  respected. 

But  it  may  be  asked  what  evidence  there  is  to  prove  that  Cain 
was  merely  an  external  man  ?  The  apostle  says,  he  was  of  the 
wicked  one :  f  it  is  also  presented  in  all  the  circumstances  related 
of  his  character,  and  from  which  it  has  been  seen  that  he  repre- 
sented faith  only.  The  tendency  of  that  doctrine  is,  to  produce 
such  a  result  upon  the  human  character.  ^Mien  a  man  believes 
faith  to  be  the  principal  thing  of  the  Church,  he  will  gradually 
recede  from  charity,  for  that  in  process  of  time  will  perish;  in 
this  case  he  will,  as  it  were,  have  lost  the  kernel,  and  merely 
retain  the  husk,  which  will  also  be  endangered.  Faith  is  an 
external  principle,  of  which  charity  is  the  internal,  and,  there- 
fore, it  is  plain  that  those  who  are  in  faith  only  must  be  merely 
external  men,  whose  faith  is  not  faith,  but  mere  science  and 
persuasion.  Confidence,  which  may  be  called  faith  in  an  emi- 
nent degree,  cannot  be  given  to  those  who  are  not  in  charity. 
How  can  those  have  genuine  confidence  Avho  have  lost  the  good 
by  which  it  is  inspired  and  made  alive  ?  Charity  is  as  a  flame, 
and  faith  the  light  which  it  emits:  when  the  flame  expires  the 
light  perishes,  or,  if  any  remain,  it  is  dim  and  doubtful.  These, 
then,  are  the  reasons  why  the  Lord  had  not  respect  to  Cain,  or  to 
his  offering.  Faith  only  is  no  object  of  the  divine  regard,  neitber 
are  its  offerings,  these  being  nothing  else  than  the  self-derived 
intelligence  of  the  external  man. 

By  these  representative  descriptions  we  are  informed  of  the 
moral   state  and  spiritual  danger  of  all  those  persons  among 

*  Prov.  xxiii.  2G;  iii.  1.  f  1  Jo''"  •''•  12. 


WHAT   THE    FIRSTLINGS    OF    THE    FLOCK    DENOTED.  185 

whom  the  heresy  of  Cain  prevailed;  which  is  confirmed  by  the 
divine  declaration  made  to  him,  namely,  "If  thou  doest  well 
shalt  thou  not  be  accepted  ?  and  if  thou  doest  not  well,  sin  lieth 
at  the  door. "  It  is  plain  that  he  did  not  do  well,  and  that, 
therefore,  both  he  and  his  offering  were  rejected. 

But  why  had  the  Lord  respect  to  Abel  and  to  his  offering? 
To  Abel,  because  he  was  the  representative  of  charity,  which 
prevailed  with  another  community,  and  Avhich  is  an  internal 
and  sanctified  principle,  inducing  all  that  is  good  and  lovely  in 
the  human  character.  This  view  is  recognized  by  the  apostle, 
who,  speaking  of  Abel' s  works,  says  they  were  righteous.  *  But 
of  what  were  his  offerings  significant  ?  Under  the  ceremonial 
law  the  sacrifices  were  supplied  from  two  sources,  the  flocks  and 
the  herds.  Those  of  the  flock  consisted  of  lambs,  sheep,  rams, 
and  goats;  and  those  of  the  herd,  of  oxen,  heifers,  and  calves. 
By  those  of  the  flock  were  represented  the  good  affections  of  the 
internal  man,  and  by  those  of  the  herd  were  denoted  the  good 
affections  of  the  external  man;  or,  in  other  words,  by  the  former 
were  denoted  the  good  things  of  love  and  charity,  and  by  the 
latter,  the  good  things  of  truth  and  faith.  Hence  arose  the 
proverb,  ' '  Know  the  state  of  thy  flocks,  and  look  Avell  to  thy 
herds; "  t  and  also  the  declaration  concerning  backsliding 
Israel,  namely,  "Shame  hath  devoured  their  flocks  and 
herds."  I  The  Lord  likewise  called  those  who  affectionately 
followed  him  a  "little  flock,"  and  said  unto  them,  "It  is 
your  Father's  good  pleasure  to  give  you  the  kingdom."  §  Now 
Abel's  offerings  were  of  the  firstlings  of  his  flock,  and  the  fat 
thereof;  which  may  be  taken,  in  the  representative  sense,  to 
mean  a  lamb,  and  the  fat  thereof. 

The  significant  character  of  a  lamb  is  abundantly  shown  to  us 
in  the  Scriptures.  The  Lord's  command  to  feed  His  lambs;  || 
His  sending  forth  the  disciples  as  lambs  among  wolves;^  and 
the  circumstance  of  His  Humanity  being  called  the  "Lamb  of 
God;  "**  sufficiently  prove  that  this  term  is  used  in  a  symbolical 
sense;  and  the  same  facts  clearly  dictate  that  it  is  employed  as 
the  representative  of  innocence.     The  truth  of  this  idea  is  per- 

*  1  John  iii.  12.  t  Prov.  xxvii.  23.  J  Jer.  iii.  24. 

?  Luke  xii.  32.  ||  Johu  xxi.  15.  Tf  Luke  x.  3. 

**  John  i.  29. 


186  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

ceivod  almost  by  intuition;  and  from  this  circumstance  has 
grown  up  the  affectionate  custom  of  speaking  of  cliildren  in 
their  innocence  as  lambs. 

Innocence  is  of  two  kinds:  the  innocence  of  infancy,  and  the 
irmocence  of  manhood.  By  manhood,  we  mean  that  sound 
condition  of  humanity  which  is  induced  by  religious  influences 
and  teachings.  The  innocence  of  the  infant  is  the  innocence  of 
ignorance;  it  is  of  a  mere  negative  quality,  arising  from  the 
unconscious  presence  of  any  guilt,  and  thus  it  is  merely  the 
ground  on  which  all  the  future  states  of  religious  life  are  raised. 
It' is  not  a  possession  whicli  the  infant  can  appreciate:  it  is  a 
necessary  result  of  his  condition,  and  towards  which,  neither 
his  intellectual  nor  his  voluntary  powers  have  at  all  contributed. 
But  the  innocence  of  the  man  is  the  innocence  of  Avisdom:  it  is, 
as  it  were,  the  innocence  of  the  infant  grown  into  a  man,  devel- 
oped, and  made  alive  by  the  instructions  of  truth  and  goodness. 
In  this  case  it  becomes  an  appreciable  possession;  so  that  the 
distinction  between  the  quality  of  the  innocence  with  the  infant 
and  the  man  is,  that  wdth  the  former  it  is  an  inheritance  of 
which  he  is  unconscious,  but  with  the  latter  it  is  an  enlightened 
and  sensible  possession.  Thus,  the  state  of  infancy  is  not  a 
state  of  religious  innocence;  because,  with  the  infant,  it  does 
not  exist  as  a  spiritual  quality,  perceptible  to  the  subject:  but 
the  innocence  of  the  man  is  a  religious  principle,  implanted  as 
he  receives  good  and  becomes  wise. 

Goodness  and  wisdom  are  essential  innocence.  It  w^as  on 
this  account  that  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  as  to  His  Humanity, 
was  called  the  ^^  Lamb  of  God,"  and  described  to  have  "grown 
in  wisdom  and  favour  with  God."  The  disciples  are  called 
lambs  for  a  similar  reason.  Such,  then,  being  the  signification 
of  a  lamb,  it  is  easy  to  see  that  the  offering  of  it  to  the  Lord 
meant  the  Avorship  of  him  from  the  good  of  innocence,  and  a 
consequent  acknowledgment  that  it  had  come  from  him,  and 
was  properly  his. 

Every  one  must  perceive,  that  in  all  good  there  must  be 
innocence;  it  is  that  which  makes  it  good;  for  if  innocence  be 
removed,  then  in  comes  guilt.  Charity  without  innocence 
cannot  be  charity:  as,  then,  Abel  was  the  representative  of 
charity,  and,  consequently,  of  all  those  in  wdiom  it  exists,  it  is 


A    LAMB    THE    EMBLEM    OF    INNOCENCE.  187 

plain  that  innocence  niu^t  luive  been  a  quality  essential  to  its 
existence.  If,  then,  a  lamb  really  denoted  the  quality  of  re- 
ligious innocence;  and  if  by  the  firstling  of  the  flock  be  meant 
a  lamb,  then  it  follows,  as  an  irresistible  consequence,  that  the 
offering  of  Abel  was  designed  to  signify  the  worship  of  the  Lord 
by  and  from  that  innocence. 

It  is  called  the  firstling  of  the  flock  because  innocence  is 
among  the  first  things  of  man,  which  is  afterwards  made  alive 
by  the  insemination  of  religious  good;  and  the  fat  thereof  is 
intended  to  express  the  superiority  of  its  quality,  and  the 
beauty  of  its  developments.  The  fat  of  the  lamb  represented 
the  essential  things  of  innocence,  which  is  the  principle  of 
celestial  good  itself.  Hence  the  Lord  said,  ' '  Hearken  dili- 
gently unto  me,  and  eat  ye  that  which  is  good,  that  your  soul 
may  delight  itself  in  fatness;"*  and  again,  "  I  will  fill  the  soul 
of  the  priest  with  fatness,  and  my  people  shall  be  satisfied  with 
my  goodness,  "t  It  is  plain  that,  in  these  passages,  fat  does 
not  mean  material  fat,  but  that  which  is  essentially  good  from 
the  Lord. 

With  these  views  before  us,  we  can  be  at  no  loss  to  discover 
why  it  was  that  the  Lord  had  respect  to  Abel  and  to  his  offer- 
ing. Charity,  and  the  good  of  innocence,  with  which  those 
who  are  principled  in  it  worship  the  Lord,  are  acceptable  things 
to  him.  They  involve  a  faithful  obedience  to  the  laws  and 
duties  of  revelation,  and  whosoever  cherishes  and  observes 
them  will  be  sure  to  obtain  admission  into  the  heavenly  king- 
dom, and  so  realize  those  blessings  which  are  associated  with 
the  divine  respect  for  them. 

But  by  what  evidences  were  Cain  and  Abel  made  acquainted 
with  the  results  of  their  respective  oflferings  ?  There  is  no  state- 
ment given  by  which  they  were  to  be  guided  into  such  knowl- 
edge. It  has  been  conjectured  that  fire  came  down  from 
heaven  and  consumed  Abel's  offering,  but  passed  by  that  of 
Cain's,  in  like  manner  as  fire  is  said  to  have  descended  on  two 
or  three  other  occasions,  after  the  establishment  of  the  Leviti- 
cal  law.  X     This  supposes  the  offerings  of  Cain  and  Abel  to  have 

*  Isa.  Iv.  2.  t  Jer.  xxxi.  14. 

J  See  Lev.  ix.  24  ;  1  Kings  xviii.  38  ;  also  Jurlg.  vi.  21.  To  support  this 
idea,  Tlieodotiaii  has  tran.slated  the  Hebrew  sJiaah  (have  respect)  into  Greek 
by  the  word  enepurisen,  he  set  on  fire. — Bayle^s  Did.  Hist.,  Art.  Egnatia. 


188  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

been  identically  similar  with  the  Jewish  sacrifices;  Whereas  in 
their  offerings  there  is  no  intimation  of  sacrifice  in  the  way  of 
killing  an  animal  and  presenting  it  upon  an  altar.  Ikit  if  any 
weight  were  attached  to  this  notion,  we  should  still  have  to 
inquire,  how  they  knew  that  burning  of  the  victim  was  a  sign 
of  the  divine  approbation  ?  Had  they  learnt  it  by  experience, 
or  were  they  taught  it  by  revelation  ?  There  is  no  written  in- 
formation by  which  these  questions  can  satisfactorily  lie  an- 
swered; nor  need  they  be  urged  when  it  is  knowai  that  their 
offerings  are  not  mentioned  in  order  to  be  understood  in  a  phys- 
ical sense:  the  whole  difficulty  arises  from  that  view  of  the 
case,  and  it  can  be  removed  only  by  other  considerations. 

It  is  plain  that  both  Cain  and  Abel  must  have  known,  by 
some  means,  the  divine  estimate  of  their  respective  offerings: 
as  there  is  no  information  of  any  external  token  being  given  of 
the  circumstance,  it  seems  certain  that  it  must  have  been  af- 
forded them  by  means  of  some  internal  evidence.  Is  not  that 
the  only  real  evidence  which  a  man  can  have  of  his  position  in 
the  Church  of  God  ?  The  divine  acceptance  or  rejection  of 
human  w^orship  is  made  known  to  the  internal  sensations  of  the 
worshii)per,  rather  than  by  any  external  signs.  Those  people 
must  have  know'n,  from  the  satisfactions  and  delights  which 
attended  their  worship,  whether  it  was  acceptable  or  otherwise. 
So  far  as  it  was  genuine,  it  must  have  been  admissive  of  a  holy 
infiuence  from  the  Lord,  and  so  of  an  indication  of  his  respect; 
but  wdien  it  w^as  not  genuine  that  influence  could  not  enter  into 
it,  and  surely  that  would  evince  its  rejection.  The  worshipper 
is  still  gifted  with  some  tokens  of  this  description,  which  testify 
the  sincerity  or  imperfection  of  his  love;  and  his  experiences  in 
these  respects  will  serve  to  show  how  Cain  and  Abel  must  have 
known  the  estimation  in  which  their  offerings  were  held.  If  a 
man's  heart  l)e  not  set  right  towards  God,  he  is  made  to  know, 
l)y  his  consciousness  of  that  fact,  that  his  oftVrings  cannot  l)e 
regarded.  He  feels  his  affections  tending  downwards  rather 
than  upwards;  he  knows  that  his  thoughts  wander  in  the 
world,  while  his  words  may  be  expressing  the  sentiments  of 
holiness;  he  is  fully  aware  that  lie  d\vells  in  nature  only,  and 
offers  nothing  but  the  fruit  of  the  ground. 

The  experience  of  this  consciousness  on  the  part  of  Cain  is 
thus  described:    "He  v/as  very  wroth,   and   his    countenance 


THE    RECEPTION    AND    RE:JECTI0N    OF    WORSHIP.  189 

fell."  This  circumstance  unfolds  his  character:  it  shows  that 
charity  was  gone;  anger  could  not  otherwise  have  possessed 
him.  It  proves  that  a  gloomy  state  was  induced  upon  his 
mind,  or  his  countenance  could  not  have  fallen.  The  feeling  of 
wrath  is  opposed  to  the  sentiment  of  charity,  and  a  falling 
of  the  countenance  only  takes  place  when  some  unfavoural)le 
change  affects  the  interiors  of  its  subject.  Anger  is  aroused 
when  self-love  is  opposed,  and  that  love  is  contrary  to  the  love 
of  God.  The  existence  of  the  former  proves  the  absence  of  the 
latter:  so,  also,  the  countenance,  which  is  bright  and  pleasing 
when  enlightened  and  influenced  by  a  benignity  within,  be- 
comes sad  and  falls  when  the  consciousness  of  impurity  is  felt. 
Such  was  the  character  of  Cain;  and  by  his  history  we  are  in- 
formed of  the  internal  state  and  spiritual  danger  of  all  those 
people  among  whom  the  heresy  of  his  religion  prevails.  That 
his  state  was  of  such  a  quality  is  farther  confirmed  by  its  being 
said  to  him,  ' '  If  thou  doest  well,  shalt  thou  not  be  accepted  ? 
and  if  thou  doest  not  well,  sin  lieth  at  the  door:  "  he  did  not 
do  well,  therefore  he  was  not  accepted;  his  offering  was  the 
form  of  worship  without  the  essence:  and  similar  disappoint- 
ment and  rejection  await  all  those  who,  like  him,  know  their 
Master's  will,  but  do  it  not;  who  know  the  way,  but  walk  not 
in  it;  who  think  they  shall  be  heard  well,  because  they  speak 
much;  who  have  enlarged  minds,  but  guilty  hearts;  who  have 
the  faith  of  knowledge,  but  not  the  charity  of  love. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

THE   DEATH   OF  ABEL.— THE   CURSE   ON   CAIN  ;   HIS  FUGITIVE 
AND  VAGABOND  CONDITION. 

"  During  the  first  eight  centuries  the  Greek  and  Roman  churches  were  in  communion 
with  each  other;  but  in  the  ninth  century  their  disputes  became  so  violent,  that 
a  final  separation  took  place  between  them.  A  Patriarch  was  elected  for  Con- 
stantinople, as  the  head  of  the  Greek  Church  ;  he  was  soon  excommunicated  by 
the  Pope,  as  the  head  of  the  Romish  Church;  the  Pope,  in  return,  was  excom- 
municated by  the  Patriarch." — Jones's  "Dictionary  of  Reiiyions  Opinions,"  p.  76. 

The  circumstances  recorded  to  have  constituted  the  succes- 
sive decline  of  the  Adamic  or  most  ancient  Church  are,  as  to 
kind,  very  similar  to  those  which  have  produced  the  corrup- 
tions of  other  religious  dispensations  mentioned  in  the  Scrip- 
tures. They  are  also  illustrated  by  facts,  which  history  assures 
us  liave  l)rought  about  the  extinction  of  various  institutions  of  a 
religious  character,  and  which,  at  the  time  of  their  origination, 
were  intended  to  promote  some  general  good.  For  a  period 
they  have  satisfactorily  flourislied  in  the  accomplishment  of  the 
purposes  for  which  they  were  established,  but  by-and-by  their 
quietude  has  been  disturbed:  some  persons,  influenced  by  the 
love  of  pre-eminence,  have  souglit  to  rule,  and  they  have  rudely 
broken  in  upon  the  order  and  the  happiness  which  previously 
existed  under  such  institutions.  Having  partaken  more  largely 
of  knowledge  than  humility,  men  sought  to  be  as  gods;  and  in 
the  prosecution  of  their  designs  they  have  originated  dissensions 
and  divisions:  one  party  has  obtained  ascendency  over  another: 
temporary  success  has  stimulated  the  arrogance  of  selfishness, 
until  it  has  wickedly  attempted  to  crush  the  modesty  of  right 
and  justice, — in  which  it  has  too  frequently  been  successful. 

In  such  historical  facts  we  have  the  general  counterpart  of 
those  events  which  brought  about  the  catastrophe  of  Abel's 
death;  and,  viewed  under  this  aspect,  we  perceive,  in  the  ante- 
diluvian narrative,  a  history  of  the  development  of  human  pas- 
sions, when  once  evil  had  introduced  its  unhallowed  presence 

190 


THE  WORD  OF  GOD  FOR  ALL  TIME.  191 

among  them.  The  narrative,  in  having  responses  in  after-his- 
tory, not  only  treats  of  the  lawless  activity  of  man's  fallen 
nature  among  an  ancient  people,  but  it  may  also  be  regarded 
as  describing  circumstances  which  have  been  enacted  over  and 
over  again  in  the  wide  domain  of  religious  society;  it  is  not  only 
the  written  picture  of  events  which  have  frequently  distin- 
guished such  society,  but  it  is  also  a  caligraphic  portrait  of  the 
states  of  individual  men.  Do  we  not  find  them  abusing  the 
privileges  they  are  permitted  to  enjoy,  and  so  preferring  per- 
sonal gratification  to  religious  obedience?  Do  not  our  experi- 
ences assure  us  that  we  have  produced  a  separation  between  our 
knowledge  and  our  duty  ?  and  have  we  not  acted  as  though  we 
considered  them  to  be  distinct  things,  instead  of  regarding  them 
as  one  ?  Religious  knowledge  exists  for  the  purpose  of  conduct- 
ing men  to  spiritual  obedience:  but  every  one  knows  that  he 
has  permitted  the  love  of  information  to  acquire  an  ascendency 
over  the  love  of  duty;-  and  it  is  no  uncommon  case  to  find  that 
the  desire  of  duty  has  been  extinguished  in  the  pursuit  of 
knowledge,  and  thus  that  Cain  has  slain  his  brother  Abel. 

It  is  only  when  we  can  see  the  ^^'ord  of  God  to  have  a  uni- 
versal, continual,  and  particular  application  to  the  moral  ex- 
periences of  men,  both  in  their  collective  and  individual  condi- 
tions, that  we  possess  the  genuine  evidence  necessary  to  con- 
vince us  that  it  is  what  it  professes  to  be — a  revelation  from 
God.  It  must  have  been  the  Divine  Mind  which  caused  the 
construction  of  the  narrative  we  are  considering,  because  it 
describes,  in  a  consecutive  series,  facts  which,  when  viewed  in 
their  internal  sense,  have  their  counterparts  in  the  experiences 
of  religious  men.  None  but  God  knoweth  what  is  in  man; 
none  but  He  could  have  looked  into  futurity,  so  as  to  have  be- 
held the  workings  and  displays  of  disordered  humanity,  and 
thereupon  to  have  caused  the  production  of  a  work  which 
should  describe  them  with  the  minutiae  and  accuracy  which  His 
book  can  be  proved  to  do.  His  Word  is  for  all  time  and  for  all 
men.  To  suppose  that  it  was  merely  the  history  of  a  particular 
period  and  of  a  peculiar  people,  is  to  take  away  from  it  the 
majesty  and  eternity  of  its  purpose,  as  well  as  to  overlook  the 
infinity  and    spirituality  of  its  origin.      It  is  written    of  God, 


192  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

that  without  a  parable  spake  he  not.*  The  most  marvellous 
and  accomplished  parable  of  revelation  is  that  which  is  called 
the  Antediluvian  History;  and  we  now  come  to  that  part  of  it 
which  informs  us  of  the  death  of  Abel  by  the  hand  of  Cain. 
The  catastrophe  is  thus  related:  "And  Cain  talked  with  Abel 
his  brother:  and  it  came  to  pass,  Avhen  they  were  in  the  field, 
that  Cain  rose  up  against  Abel  his  brother,  and  slew  him."f 
This  result  sufficiently  indicates  that  their  talking  together  is  to 
be  understood  as  expressing  the  idea  of  angry  disputation. 
This  was  the  natural  consequence  of  two  different  sects,  which 
had  branched  off  from  the  most  ancient  Church,  one  of  which 
was  seeking  an  ascendenc}^  over  the  other. 

It  is  no  uncommon  circumstance  for  rival  parties  in  religion 
to  be  found  in  the  bitterness  of  controversy.  Although  the}' 
may  be  in  the  same  field  together, — or,  what  is  thereby  signi- 
fied, although  they  may  profess  to  belong  to  the  same  general 
religious  dispensation, — yet  the  j)articular  views  which  each 
has  taken  of  some  of  its  doctrines  and  discipline  have  brought 
them  into  collision,  and  they  have  not  unfrequently  conducted 
their  controversies  more  in  the  spirit  of  conquest  and  the  world, 
than  under  the  influence  of  truth  and  heaven.  The  history  of 
the  Lutheran,  Calvinistic,  and  Arminian  parties  in  the  Christian 
Church,  displays  these  facts  with  sufficient  clearness.  They 
have  talked  together,  but  they  have  talked  vehemently.  Luther 
denounced  Erasmus  as  a  vain,  inglorious  animal,  because  he 
exposed  some  of  the  religious  crudities  which  "the  Reformer" 
had  published:  |  Calvin  caused  Servetus  to  be  put  to  death,  be- 
cause he  dared  to  differ  from  him  in  religious  opinion. §     The 

*  ]\Iatt.  xiii.  34.  f  Gen.  iv.  8. 

J  His  words  are,  "That  exasperated  viper,  Erasmus,  has  again  attacked 
me;  what  eloquence  will  the  vain,  inglorious  animal  display  in  the  over- 
throw of  Luther !  " 

§  "  When  Servetus  had  escaped  from  his  prison  at  Vienna,  and  was  pass- 
ing through  Switzerland  in  order  to  seek  refuge  in  Italy,  Calvin  caused  him 
to  be  apprehended  at  Geneva,  in  the  year  1.553,  and  had  an  accusation  of 
blasphemy  brought  against  him  before  the  council.  The  issue  of  this  accu- 
sation was  fatal  to  Servetus.  who,  adhering  resolutely  to  the  opinions  he  had 
embraced,   was,   by  a  public  sentence  of  the  court,  declared  an  obstinate 


RELIGIOUS    DISPUTES.  193 

controversies  founded  on  the  doctrines  of  Arminius  involved 
Switzerland  in  years  of  discord;  and  other  branches  of  the  pro- 
fessing Christian  Church,  which  have  had  greater  power  and 
more  audacity,  have  not  scrupled  at  any  means  by  which  they 
could  subdue  their  antagonists  in  religious  things.  Sometimes 
they  have  had  recourse  to  violence  and  blood,  rather  than  not 
attain  the  supremacy  to  which  they  aspired.  This  has  been  the 
case  not  merely  with  individuals,  of  which  the  martyrdoms  are 
a  sufficient  evidence,  but  it  is  true  of  whole  parties.  History 
most  distinctly  informs  us  of  several  instances  in  which  one 
sect  has  wickedly  attempted  to  exterminate  another,  not  by  the 
persuasions  of  truth  and  reason,  but  by  the  weapons  of  cruelty 
and  murder.  The  Albigenses  were  a  people  who,  in  the  eleventh 
century,  attempted  to  effect  some  reform  in  the  Church  as  it 
then  existed;  their  views,  however,  were  condemned  in  council 
by  the  ecclesiastics  of  the  time,  and  an  effort  was  thereupon  made 
to  exterminate  them  by  the  most  violent  persecutions.*  An- 
other instance  of  a  similar  kind  is  presented  to  us  in  the  history 
of  the  Waldenses;  f  and  that  of  the  Huguenots,  in  the  seven- 
heretic,  and,  in  consequence  thereof,  condemned  to  the  flames." — Mosheim 
Eccl.  Hist,  cent,  xvi.,  par.  iv.  Dr.  A.  Maclaine,  the  translator,  observes, 
that  "it  is  impossible  to  justily  the  conduct  of  Calvin  in  the  case  of 
Servetus,  whose  death  vrill  be  an  indelible  reproach  upon  the  character  of 
that  great  and  eminent  reformer.  The  only  thing  that  can  be  alleged,  not 
to  efface,  but  to  diminish  his  crime,  is,  that  it  was  no  easy  matter  for  him 
to  divest  himself  at  once  of  that  persecuting  spirit  which  had  been  .so  long 
nourished  and  strengthened  by  the  popi.sh  religion,  in  which  he  had  been 
educated.  It  was  a  remaining  portion  of  the  spirit  of  Popery  in  the  breast 
of  Calvin  that  kindled  his  unchristian  zeal  against  the  wretched  Servetus." 

*  Liraborch's   History  of  the  Inquisition,  translated  by  Chandler,  vol.  i., 
pp.  42-70. 

t  "The  injuries  and  insults  they  suffered  at  the  hands  of  many  orders  of 
men,  and  more  especially  of  the  Jesuits,  are  not  to  be  numbered.  In  Poland, 
all  those  who  ventured  to  differ  from  the  Pope  found,  by  bitter  experience, 
during  the  whole  of  this  (17th)  century,  that  no  treaty  or  convention  that 
tended  to  set  bounds  to  the  authority  or  rapacity  of  the  Church  was  held 
sacred,  or  even  regarded,  at  Rome.  For  many  of  these  were  ejected  out  of 
their  schools,  deprived  of  their  churches,  robbed  of  their  goods  and  posses- 
sions, under  a  variety  of  perfidious  pretexts  ;  nay,  frequently  condenmed  to 
the  most  severe  and  cruel  punishments,  without  having  been  even  charge- 
able with  the  appearance  of  crime.  The  remains  of  the  Waldenses  that 
15 


194  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPITIATIOX. 

teenth  ceiiturv,  discloses  unparalleled  atrocities.  They  v>'ere  a 
sect  of  Protestants  which  rose  up  in  France,  and,  for  having 
separated  from  the  dominant  party  of  the  Romish  Church  at 
that  time,  were  denounced  as  objects  of  hatred.  Mosheim 
informs  us  that,  "  after  having  groaned  for  a  long  space  of  time 
under  various  forms  of  cruelty  and  oppression,  and  seen  multi- 
tudes of  their  brethren  put  to  deatli  by  secret  conspiracies  or 
open  tyranny  and  violence,  they  were  at  length  obliged  either 
to  save  themselves  by  clandestine  flight,  or  to  profess,  against 
their  consciences,  the  Romish  religion."* 

With  such  facts  of  history  before  us,  it  is  no  difficult  thing  to 
conceive  that  the  dispute  of  Cain  with  Abel,  when  viewed  as  relig- 
ious parties  in  the  most  ancient  Church,  should  have  terminated 
in  the  more  bold  and  daring  effecting  the  destruction  of  the  more 
modest  and  unresisting.  This  is  one  of  the  unhappy  conse- 
quences which  attend  a  Church  during  the  process  of  its  decline 
from  wisdom  and  purity;  it  is  then  that  evil  and  false  principles 
effect  an  entrance  and  perpetrate  their  mischiefs.  The  sweet- 
ness of  charity  is  sacrificed  to  the  austerity  of  faith.  Creeds 
have  triumphed  over  virtue;  innocence  has  suffered  in  the  strug- 
gle to  establish  an  opinion;  guilt  has  flourished  for  a  time,  and, 
under  the  injured  name  of  truth,  has  perpetrated  murder.  This 
we  conceive  to  be  the  general  idea  which  the  history  of  Abel's 
death  by  the  hands  of  Cain  was  intended  to  conve}^  to  posterity. 
How  many  disasters  would  have  been  prevented'  in  society,  if 
the  moral  of  it  had  been  practically  learnt!  But,  alas!  it  has  not 
been  so.  The  narrative  describes  a  calamity  which  must  attend 
the  presence  of  false  principles  in  the  Church  during  the  process 
of  its  decline  and  fall;  it  is  also  a  revelation  of  their  conse- 
quences, which  have  been  verified  in  after  ages  by  a  liundred 
facts. 

lived  in  the  vallej'S  of  Piedmont  were  persecuted  often  with  the  most  in- 
human cruelty  (and  more  especially  in  the  years  1632,  1655,  and  1685),  on 
account  of  their  magnanimous  and  steadfast  attachment  to  the  religion  of 
their  ancestors ;  and  this  persecution  was  carried  on  with  all  the  horrors  of 
fire  and  sword  by  the  Dukes  of  Savoy." — 3Iosfteim,  cent,  xvii.,  part  1, 
par.  viii. 

*Eccl.  Hist.,  cent,  xvii.,  part  1,  par.  ix.  See  also  the  second  chapter  of 
the  second  part  throughout. 


CHARACTERISTICS    OF    CAIN.  195 

While  we  can  see  the  general  j^rinciple  involved  in  the  decla- 
ration of  Cain  talking  with  his  brother  Abel,  and  subsequently 
slaying  him,  let  us  endeavour  to  examine  the  subject  a  little 
farther,  in  order  to  comprehend  the  statements  in  their  more 
particular  form.  Their  talking,  as  it  was  said,  plainly  indicates 
an  angry  disputation:  the  result  proves  the  truth  of  this  induc- 
tion. Divisions  having  broken  in  upon  the  unity  of  the  most 
ancient  Church,  doctrinal  disagreements  would,  in  the  process 
of  time,  manifest  themselves  in  various  forms,  more  or  less 
malignant.  Cain — or,  what  is  the  same  thing,  those  who  main- 
tained that  faith  grounded  in  the  knowledge  of  truth  constituted 
the  excellency  of  religion — would  talk  authoritatively,  and 
wield  an  intellectual  power  over  Abel — or,  what  is  the  same 
thing,  those  who  were  influenced  by  the  docility  and  gentleness 
of  charity.  Those  who  love  charity  love  peace.  They  prefer 
to  let  their  lives,  rather  than  their  words,  speak  of  the  upright- 
ness of  their  heart  and  the  integrity  of  their  character.  The 
intelligence  of  their  faith  shows  itself  in  the  purity  of  their 
works:  what  they  know  of  truth  fixes  itself  in  amiability  and 
loveliness  of  conduct.  They  are  actuated  by  an  afiirmative 
principle,  and,  in  their  communications  on  points  of  difference, 
will  say  little  more  than  "  Yea,  yea;  Na}',  nay;  "  because  they 
are  well  assured  that  whatsoever  is  more  than  these  has  come 
of  evil.  Their  religion  is  exhibited  in  the  meekness  and  moder- 
ation of  their  deportment.  The}^  will  give  to  every  one  that 
asketh  them,  a  reason  for  the  hope  that  is  in  them;  but  they 
cannot  enforce  their  views  by  contention  and  the  strife  of  words. 
They  cannot  talk  rudely,  and  so  irreverently,  about  heavenly 
things.  They  remember  the  sanctity  of  goodness,  and  endeav- 
our to  preserve  it  with  every  care.  If  opposed  by  those  who 
are  in  the  pride  of  intellect,  they  will  state  their  views  of  truth 
with  lucidity  and  candour,  but  they  will  carefully  eschew  the 
risings  of  an  angry  disputation.  They  fear  lest  they  should 
imbibe  an  ungenerous  spirit,  and  prefer  that  their  opponent 
should  acquire  the  reputation  of  a  conqueror,  rather  than  to 
endanger  the  good  they  may  possess  by  entering  into  the  heat 
and  virulence  of  controversy.  "  Charity  suffereth  long,  and  is 
kind;  charity  envieth  not;  charity  vaunteth  not  itself,  is  not 
puffed  up,  doth  not  behave  itself  unseemly,  seeketh  not  her  own, 


196  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIKATION. 

is  not  easil}'  provoked,  thinketh  no  evil;  rejoiceth  not  in 
iniquity,  but  rejoiceth  in  the  truth;  beareth  all  things,  hopeth  all 
things,  endureth  all  things.  Charity  never  faileth."*  Those 
who  are  led  by  this  holy  principle  care  not  so  much  about  the 
talking  part  of  religion:  they  regard  the  doing  of  their  duty  in 
all  the  relationships  of  life  to  be  of  the  first  importance.  They 
are  ever  attentive  to  acts  of  benevolence  and  use,  and  experience 
happiness  in  the  diligent  performance  of  them;  and  they  will 
be  found  to  submit  to  sufferings  and  persecution  for  righteous- 
ness' sake,  rather  than  be  driven  into  resistance  by  violence  and 
oppression.  Such  were  the  characteristics  of  the  people  called 
Abel. 

But  Cain,  or  those  who  believe  that  the  knowledges  of  faith 
are  the  principal  things  of  religion,  are  not  satisfied  with  so 
mild  and  amiable  a  course.  They  cannot  endure  that  any 
should  hold  sentiments  different  from  their  own;  and  every  one 
whose  views  do  not  harmonize  with  their  ideas  of  faith  is  con- 
sidered as  an  adversary,  and  regarded  with  disdain.  They  dis- 
pute with  vehemence,  and  break  into  anger  in  the  midst  of  argu- 
mentation, because  they  are  destitute  of  the  charity  that  would 
keep  them  placid.  They  pretend  that  charity  is  only  the  orna- 
ment of  religion,  and  not  necessary  to  the  salvation  of  the 
believer.  With  them,  faith,  and  not  virtue,  is  the  essential 
thing.  This  has  been  the  ground  of  those  supposed  conversions 
which  certain  wicked  persons  are  said  to  have  exi^erienced,  v.'hen 
under  the  influence  of  affliction  or  the  fear  of  death.  Such  per- 
sons, because  they  could  serve  themselves  no  longer,  are  then 
persuaded  to  have  faith  in  God,  and  to  believe  that  this  alone 
will  save  them.  But  of  such  the  Lord  has  said,  "  Depart  from 
me;  I  never  knew  you."  From  the  same  pestilential  source 
some  criminals,  who  have  forfeited  their  lives  by  the  atrocity  of 
their  conduct,  have  been  said  to  have  become  religious,  and  to 
have  died  in  penitence  and  hope;  so  that  the  scaffold  has  not 
unfrequently  been  exhibited  as  no  obstacle  in  the  way  to  heaven. 
Merciful  God!  to  what  detestable  results  have  men  been  led 
through  the  adoption  of  false  principles  in  religion,  and  which, 
in  their  audacity,  they  have  said  were  thine! 

*  1  Cor.  xiii.  4-8. 


THE    ESSENTIAL   THING    OF   RELIGION.  197 

Those  who  suppose  that  faith  only — that  is,  faith  separate 
from  charity — is  the  essential  thing  of  the  Church,  and  so  the 
principal  thing  in  man's  salvation,  overlook  this  circumstance, — 
that  no  one  can  procure  genuine  faith  who  is  not  first  in  the 
love  of  something  that  is  good;  also,  that  good  cannot  be 
obtained  but  in  a  state  of  liberty,  or  fixed  in  the  life  until  it  be 
practised.  Faith,  then,  is  the  offspring  of  charity,  for  charity 
is  good,  and  thus  the  living  and  essential  thing  of  religion  and 
salvation.  But  the  belief  of  these  truths  is  no  part  of  the  Soli- 
fidian's  faith.  His  great  effort  is  to  set  the  speculations  of  faith 
above  the  excellences  of  virtue.  He  struggles  incessantly  to 
obtain  pre-eminence  for  faith.  He  entertains  no  kindly  senti- 
ments for  those  who  differ  from  him  He  cherishes  no  affec- 
tionate regard  for  spiritual  good :  he  asserts  that  it  is  impossible 
to  obtain  it;  and  so  he  does  not  look  upon  charity  as  his  spirit- 
ual brother,  but  disputes  with  those  Avho  think  it  is  so,  rejects 
their  arguments,  and  neglects  their  virtues.  The  non-resisting 
character  of  those  who  are  in  charity  is  construed  by  him  into  a 
want  of  confidence  in  its  superiority.  He  treats  the  humilit}'  of 
charity  as  the  docility  of  ignorance;  its  submissiveness  is  pro- 
nounced to  be  cowardice,  and  then  it  is  destroyed.  It  is  thus 
that  Cain  rises  against  his  brother,  and  Abel  perishes  ! 

When  Abel  is  slain, — when  men  destroy  the  life  of  charit}"  in 
themselves,  by  rejecting  it  as  no  essential  thing  of  religion  or 
salvation, — when  they  think  works  of  virtue  will  not  aid  their 
upward  progress,  they  are  not  far  from  believing  that  acts  of 
vice  will  not  prevent  it;  and  so  the  doctrine  of  ^^ faith  only''''  is 
no  safeguard  against  the  perpetration  of  any  enormity  which 
their  lusts  may  prompt.  Hence  it  was  that  Cain,  by  whom  this 
doctrine  was  represented  and  sustained,  is  recorded  to  have  com- 
mitted the  highest  crime.  ]\Ien  do  not  fall  into  guilty  practices 
toward  their  fellow-men  until  they  have  wounded  charity  in 
themselves.  The  inquisition,  the  rack,  and  the  fagot,  were  the 
inventions  of  those  in  whom  the  sentiment  of  genuine  charity 
had  perished.  In  having  recourse  to  these  enormities,  they  pro- 
fessed, indeed,  to  be  actuated  by  a  principle  of  religion,  but 
then  it  was  only  in  the  shape  of  a  creed,  and  not  in  the  form  of 
love.  It  was  something  Avhich  they  regarded  as  faith,  without 
its  amiable  and  forbearing  brother;  hence  they  persecuted  and 


198  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

destroyed  their  neighbour,  under  the  horrid  persuasion  that,  by 
so  acting,  they  were  doing  God  service. 

These  considerations  help  us  to  see,  that  by  Cain's  slaying  his 
brother  Abel  is  denoted,  that  those  Avho  were  in  the  mere  doc- 
trinals  of  faith  rejected  the  life  of  charity,  and  thus  admitted 
all  those  evil  influences  implied  in  the  curse  which  was  pro- 
nounced upon  him. 

We  now  come  to  notice  some  other  circumstances  which  the 
narrative  reveals  concerning  Cain.  First,  the  Lord  said  unto 
him,  "  Where  is  Abel  thy  brother?  "* 

The  Lord  is  frequently  treated  of  in  the  Scriptures  as  speak- 
ing to  various  persons;  but  by  this  we  are  not  to  understand 
oral  communication,  like  that  which  takes  place  between  man 
and  man  in  the  expression  of  his  thoughts.  The  Lord  does 
not  so  effect  his  intercourse  with  men.  By  his  speaking,  espe- 
cially to  the  guilty,  is  meant,  in  general,  an  internal  dictate, 
produced  either  through  the  human  perceptions  or  conscience. 
Conscience  is  the  peculiar  inheritance  of  man:  it  is  one  of  the 
evidences  of  his  spirituality,  and  by  which  he  is  distinguished 
from  the  brutes,  who  have  it  not.  It  is  formed  in  man  during 
the  early  years  of  his  existence,  by  means  of  the  affections, 
attentions,  and  moral  instructions  of  his  parents  and  friends; 
but  more  particularly  by  the  teachings  of  what  are  good  and 
true:  and  all  goodness  and  truth  are  the  Lord's,  communicated 
to  man  through  such  mediums  as  his  state  requires:  that 
medium  is  now  the  "Word.  When  man  at  any  time  trans- 
gresses those  principles  in  which  he  has  been  trained,  he  is 
made  to  feel  internal  pain  and  reproof.  The  pain  arises  from 
a  mental  sense  of  the  violence  which  has  been  done  to  some- 
thing that  is  good;  and  the  reproof,  from  a  perception  of  the 
injury  which  has  been  inflicted  on  something  that  is  true:  this 
mental  sense  is  the  Divine  voice,  uttering  its  complaints  within. 
It  speaks  a  sensible  and  a  nervous  language,  and  leaves  impres- 
sions not  readily  forgotten.  We  know  that  such  experiences  do 
not  come  to  us  from  without:  we  feel  that  they  originate  in  a 
dictate  from  within,  and  thus  that  they  come  from  a  higher  and 
a  holier  source  than  ourselves.      It  is  easy,  then,  to  see  that  the 

*  Gen.  iv.  9. 


THE    INQUIRY    AFTER    ABEL.  199 

Lord  speaks  with  men  in  the  dictate  of  some  internal  principle, 
formed  and  disciplined  by  means  of  the  Divine  teachings. 

This  dictate  to  Cain,  in  the  instance  before  us,  was  made 
upon  his  perception,  and  it  concerned  the  violence  which  he 
had  done  to  charity.  It  is  thus  expressed:  "Where  is  Abel 
thy  brother?"  It  was  an  internal  impression,  inquiring  what 
was  become  of  the  innocence,  the  peace,  and  tranquillity,  that 
were  enjoyed  before  charity  was  slain;  it  was  a  spiritual  investi- 
gation, giving  the  assurance  of  guilt  by  the  sensations  of  pain. 
The  case,  Avith  Cain,  was  similar  to  that  which  the  guilty  have 
experienced  in  after  ages.  They  know  that  this  description  of 
their  state  is  true:  but  what  is  their  practical  answer  to  such  an 
inquiry  ?  It  partakes  of  the  false  position  in  which  their  guilt 
has  placed  them;  and  it  is  forcibly  expressed  in  the  reply  which 
Cain  is  declared  to  have  made,  namel}^  "I  know  not:  Am  I 
my  brother' s  keeper  ? ' '  Those  who  are  not  Avilling  to  be  con- 
nected with  or' influenced  by  charity,  strive  to  make  light  of  the 
guilt  that  has  extinguished  it.  Those  who  produce  the  death 
of  Abel  are  therefore  brought  into  a  state  which,  in  some  meas- 
ure, -prevents  them  from  seeing  the  enormity  of  their  crime. 
The  criminal  does  not  see  his  wickedness  in  so  hideous  a  form 
as  society,  who  have  suffered  from  its  malignity.  Those  who 
cherish  ill-will  and  hatred  towards  their  neighbour  think  very 
lightly  of  the  enormity  they  are  committing:  such  persons  see 
in  their  neighbour  nothing  but  inferiority  and  fault;  they  know 
him  not,  nor  do  they  conceive  why  they  should  be  regarded  as 
his  keeper.  They  practically  reason  with  themselves,  and  say, 
Why  should  they  serve  him  ?  Why  should  they  be  inquired 
of  concerning  him?  Why  should  he  stand  in  the  way  of  their 
success  ?  Such  base  reasonings  as  these  express  the  depraved 
conditions  of  their  hearts,  from  which  they  strive  to  remove 
every  obstacle  to  the  foul  dominion  which  th-ey  seek,  so  far  as 
they  can  command  the  power,  and  use  it  with  safety  to  them- 
selves. 

Thus  it  is,  that  those  who  are  principled  in  the  doctrine 
which  Cain  represented,  like  him,  make  light  of  charity,  even 
when  it  is  inquired  after:  and  that  they  entirely  reject  it  is 
signified  by  his  contemptuous  inquiry,  "Am  I  my  brother's 
keeper?" — in  other  words,  What  have  I  to  do  with  charity? 


200  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

Nevertheless,  this  daring  on  the  part  of  Cain  did  not  suppress 
the  urgency  of  the  inner  dictate:  it  forcibly  accused  him  of 
having  offered  violence  to  charity,  and  strongly  convicted  him 
of  the  crime,  by  making  him  conscious  of  his  guilt;  which  cir- 
cumstances are  described  by  the  Lord  saying  to  Cain,  ' '  The 
voice  of  thy  brother's  blood  crieth  unto  me  from  the  ground." 
"  The  voice  of  thy  brother  "  denotes  the  complaint  of  charity; 
his  "  blood  "  is  intended  to  express  the  idea  of  its  rejection  and 
death;  and  this  is  said  to  have  "cried  from  the  ground,"  to 
inform  us  that  the  destruction  of  charity  arose  from  the  heresy 
into  which  the  people  called  Cain  had  fallen;  and,  therefore, 
they  are  pronounced  to  have  been  cursed. 

Now  all  cursing  comes  from  evil:  God  is  not,  cannot  be,  the 
source  of  it.  Man  produces  it,  by  turning  himself  away  from 
God;  and  he  does  this  whenever  he  prefers  his  own  will  to 
God's  teachings.  The  sun  is  not  the  author  of  darkness;  he  is 
ever  shining  :  but  darkness  comes  by  the  earth's  rotating  from 
him.  Those  who,  like  Cain,  know  truth,  and  do  it  not,  turn 
themselves  away  from  God,  and  so  become  averse  to  what  is 
good.  All  blessing  comes  to  men  as  they  love  the  good  of 
charity:  all  cursing  overtakes  them  as  they  banish  and  extin- 
guish it;  for,  in  this  case,  cruelty,  unmercifulness,  and  hatred 
enter  in;  and  thereupon  the  bond  is  broken  between  man  and 
God:  consequently,  the  means  of  blessing  is  dissolved,  and  the 
opposite  state  is  that  of  being  cursed;  for,  as  it  was  said,  all 
cursing  comes  to  men  through  the  entering  in  of  evil,  which  faith 
alone  cannot  prevent.  That  man  may  be  in  such  a  faith,  and 
yet  in  a  state  of  condemnation,  is  plain  from  its  being  written, 
' '  The  devils  believe,  and  tremble. "  *  It  is  a  fearful  state,  to  know 
what  is  right  and  do  it  not.  The  Lord  has  thus  described  it: 
' '  Every  one  that  heareth  these  sayings  of  mine,  and  doeth  them 
not,  shall  be  likened  unto  a  foolish  man,  which  built  his  house 
upon  the  sand:  and  the  rain  descended,  and  the  floods  came, 
and  the  winds  blew,  and  beat  upon  that  house;  and  it  fell:  and 
great  was  the  fall  of  it.  "f 

But  the  nature  of  the  curse  which  befell  Cain  is  more  par- 
ticularly described  by  its  being  said  to  him,  "  When  thou  tillest 
the  ground,  it  shall  not  henceforth  yield  unto  thee  her  strength: 

*  Jas.  ii.  19.  fMatt.  vii.  2fi,  27. 


THE   CURSES   OF   CAIN.  201 

a  fugitive  and  a  vagabond  shalt  thou  be  in  the  earth."*  Adam 
was  told  that  the  ground  was  cursed,  and  would  bring  forth 
thorns  and  thistles;  and  now  Cain  is  informed  that  it  should 
not  yield  her  strength.  Every  one  who  will  reflect  must  see 
that  the  statement  is  not  intended  to  express  any  hindrance  to 
the  natural  prolification  of  the  land,  but  that  something  of  a 
spiritual  character  must  be  meant.  Natural  laws  and  spiritual 
laws  operate  distinctly  from  each  other.  The  spiritual  laws  l)y 
which  a  man  becomes  good,  and  the  natural  laws  by  which  his 
land  becomes  productive,  are  of  two  different  kinds.  There 
may  be  an  analogy  between  them,  but  they  are  not  dependent 
on  each  other  for  their  effects.  It  is  a  natural  law,  that  if  the 
earth  be  tilled  it  will  produce  its  increase,  whether  the  man 
who  tilled  it  be  good  or  bad.  The  good  man's  garden  will  not 
afford  him  fruits,  if  he  be  inattentive  to  the  natural  laws  of 
production.  The  bad  man's  ground  is  not  barren,  if  he  duly 
attend  to  the  requirements  of  the  soil.  It  is  plain,  then,  that 
the  statement  made  to  Cain,  namely,  "When  thou  tillest  the 
ground,  it  shall  not  henceforth  yield  unto  thee  her  strength," 
is  designed  to  announce,  not  a  ph3'sical  result,  but  a  conse- 
quence of  the  action  of  some  spiritual  law.  What  this  is  will 
presently  appear. 

It  will  be  remembered  that,  in  a  former  chapter,  it  was 
shown  that  the  ground  was  an  emblem  of  the  natural  state,  or 
mind,  of  the  celestial  man;  also  that  his  fall  consisted  in  his 
descent  from  his  celestial  condition  into  that  natural  state,  or 
mind,  again;  and  thereby  carrying  into  it  the  seeds  of  trans- 
gression. It  then  became  his  work  to  till  this  ground,  which 
denoted  the  rooting  up,  by  means  of  repentance,  of  the  weeds 
and  briers,  the  thorns  and  thistles,  of  transgressive  life,  and  the 
cultivation  of  the  natural  mind  for  the  reception  of  the  seeds  of 
truth  and  goodness.  But  this  important  duty,  by  which  it  was 
intended  to  raise  him  out  of  his  corruptions,  had  not  been 
properly  attended  to.  The  people,  it  was  seen,  became  divided 
into  sects,  and  that  of  Cain  cultivated  the  ground  of  the  natural 
mind,  so  as  to  produce  the  erroneous  persuasion,  that  faith  was 
all  that  was  necessary  to  form  the  religious  character  and  to 
realize   religious  hopes.       By   this    they   fell    into   the  deeper 

*  Gen.  iv.  12. 


202  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

wickedness  of  extinguishing  all  spiritual  good, — they  rose 
against  Abel,  and  slew  him.  Hence  their  faith  became  a 
heresy;  for  the  faith  that  rejects  cliarity  as  a  means  of  accept- 
ance with  the  Lord,  is  not  from  heaven,  but  from  fallen  man. 
The  ground  of  Cain  was  still  tlie  natural  mind  of  the  people  so 
called;  but  by  the  destruction  of  charity  it  became  infested 
with  false  notions,  both  of  religion  and  themselves. 

The  will  having  become  corrupt,  the  understanding  partook 
of  the  depravity.  When  men  commence  to  love  what  is  evil, 
they  soon  begin  to  think  what  is  false.  The  head  is  soon  se- 
duced when  the  heart  is  foul;  so  that  heresies  arise  among 
mankind  from  the  prevalence  of  evil.  Men  are  expert  in 
reasoning  in  favour  of  the  things  thej^  love, — they  strive  to  be- 
lieve what  they  desire.  Cain's  love  had  now  become  the  love 
of  self,  for  he  had  hated  and  destroyed  liis  brother;  hence 
all  his  notions  and  opinions  acquired  a  tincture  from  this  in- 
iquity, and  thus  his  faith  became  a  heres}'.  It  was  the  heresy 
of  believing  that  mere  knowledge  and  persuasion  would  save, 
which  now^  constituted  the  ground  of  his  natural  mind.  To 
till  this  ground  was  to  cultivate  this  heresy;  but  he  was  told 
that  it  would  not  yield  its  strength.  Providence  mercifully 
interrupts  the  course  of  the  wicked;  and  God  designs  that  in- 
terruption to  be  a  blessing,  but  they  receive  it  otherwise.  It 
disturbs  their  loves,  it  hinders  their  pursuits,  and  so  retards  the 
progress  of  malignity.  Is  not  this  an  actual  blessing?  Most 
certainly  it  is  !  Still,  it  is  regarded  as  a  misfortune  and  a  curse 
by  those  who  are  its  subjects.  The  people  called  Cain  tilled 
their  ground, — they  cultivated  the  heresy  into  which  they  had 
fallen:  they  were  informed  that  it  should  not  yield  her  strength, 
— that  it  could  not  bring  forth  acceptable  fruits.  In  other 
words,  they  were  told  that  the  good  and  excellent  things  of 
heaven  could  not  grow  out  of  a  perverted  mind.  "We  cannot 
gather  grapes  of  thorns,  nor  figs  of  thistles. 

Religious  heresies  have  never  been  productive  of  any  real  good 
to  society:  it  is  impossible,  in  the  nature  of  things,  that  they 
should;  because,  in  such  case,  the  ground  of  the  natural  mind  is 
not  tilled  to  bring  forth  virtue,  but  to  grow  arguments  and  opin- 
ions for  the  maintenance  of  the  schism.  How  many  have  quar- 
relled, fought,  and  died  in  the  defence  of  an  opinion,  Avhich  time, 


CAIN    TILLING    THE   GROUND.  203 

and  the  advancement  of  knowledge,  have  proved  to  be  false!  How 
many  heresies  have  arisen  in  the  Church,  which  have  succes- 
sively perished,  with  the  sole  exception  of 'a  name  in  history! 
Their  professors  tilled  this  heTetical  ground  with  assiduity  and 
zeal,  but  it  did  not  improve  the  condition  or  enlarge  the  virtues 
of  society :  it  served  rather  to  increase  their  subtlety,  and  to 
impart  severity  to  their  characters,  and  hence  the  heresies  have 
passed  away.  This  result  is  in  agreement  with  the  apostolic 
statement,  ' '  If  this  council  or  this  work  be  of  men,  it  will  come 
to  nought:  but  if  it  be  of  God,  ye-  cannot  overthrow  it;  lest 
haply  ye  be  found  to  fight  against  God."* 

The  natural  mind,  infested  with  schismatical  notions  about 
religious  things,  however  it  may  be  cultivated,  does  not  yield  its 
strength:  falsehood  and  fallacy  weaken  its  powers,  and  prevent 
it  from  going  to  those  sources  which  furnish  information.  The 
cultivation  of  error,  instead  of  yielding  the  intellectual  strength 
of  the  mind,  develops  its  weakness;  and  this,  together  with  its 
non-production  of  benefits  and  use,  bring  it  into  merited  dis- 
grace and  ruin:  in  these  facts  we  learn  in  what  the  curse  of  Cain 
consisted.  When  the  heresy  which  destroyed  charity  in  the 
Church  began  to  be  cultivated  by  itself,  it  was  found  to  produce 
no  fruits  of  moral  and  spiritual  use,  and  to  yield  no  strength  of 
intellectual  knowledge.  Cain's  water  was  nought,  and  his  ground 
was  barren,  so  that  he  became  ' '  a  fugitive  and  vagabond  in  the 
earth."  t 

These  things  are  predicated  of  the  religious  state  of  Cain,  rather 
than  of  their  physical  and  outer  condition.  A  fugitive  is  one 
who  runs  away  from  the  demands  of  duty,  and  a  vagabond  is  a 
wanderer  who  has  no  settled  habitation.  The  people  called  Cain 
had  these  two  epithets  applied  to  them,  with  the  view  of  express- 
ing the  idea  that  they  had,  as  to  their  will,  run  away  fi'om  the 
love  of  goodness;  and  that,  as  to  their  understanding,  they  had 
no  settled  conception  of  truth.  The  same  words  are  applied 
in  the  historical  portion  of  the  Scriptures  to  other  parties,  with 
a  like  signification.  The  terms  fled  and  wander  also  denote  the 
same  ideas;  which  an  instance  will  sufficiently  illustrate.      The 

*  Acts  V.  38,  39. 

t  Septuagint  renders  this  passage,  "groaning  and  trembling  on  the  earth." 
The  above,  however,  is  the  more  correct  expression  of  the  original  Hebrew. 


204  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

prophet  Isaiah,  speaking  "  of  the  valley  of  vision,"  says,  "All 
thy  rulers  wander  together,  they  are  bound  by  the  archers:  all 
that  are  found  in  thee  are  bound  together,  which  have  fled 
from  far."*  Where,  by  the  valley  of  vision,  is  represented  the 
phantasy  of  a  religion  of  faith  without  charity:  the  wandering  of 
its  rulers  denotes  the  unsteady  condition  of  its  knowledges:  all 
that  were  found  in  it  under  such  circumstances  are  mere  per- 
versions of  good,  and  hence  they  are  said  to  have  "fled  from 
far."  The  Lord,  and  all  genuine  goodness,  are  far  away  from 
such  a  state.  Thus  Cain  was  called  a  fugitive,  to  denote  that 
his  affections  had  run  away  from  goodness;  and  he  is  pronounced 
to  be  a  vagal)ond,  to  signify  the  wandering  character  of  his 
understanding  in  respect  to  truth;  whence  we  learn  that  all 
those  who,  like  him,  profess  and  cherish  a  religion  of  faith 
which  is  not  grounded  in  charity,  are  pronounced  to  be  fugitives 
and  vagabonds  in  the  Church. 

*  Isa.  xxii.  3. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

CAIN'S    COMPLAINT    AND    APPREHENSIONS. —THE    MARK    SET 
UPON  HIM  FOR  HIS  PRESERVATION. 

"  The  goodness  anl  love  of  GoJ  have  no  limits  or  bounds  but  such  as  his  omnipotence 
hath;  and  everything  that  hath  a  possibility  of  partaking  of  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  will  infallibly  find  a  place  in  it." — Law's  Appeal,  p.  88. 

When  men  turn  their  affections  away  from  what  is  good,  and 
their  thoughts  from  wliat  is  true,  they  are  necessarily  brought 
into  a  state  in  which  pain  must  be  experienced  and  danger 
apprehended.  We  say  this  is  the  necessary  consequence  of  such 
a  procedure,  because  it  is  a  Divine  law  that  a  sense  of  happi- 
ness and  security  springs  out  of  the  love  and  practice  of  what 
is  Avise  and  virtuous;  and,  consequently,  that  a  departure  from 
that  law  must  be  attended  with  opposite  results.  This  was  a 
condition  of  which  Cain  had  now  become  sensible,  and,  to 
record  it,  he  is  said  to  have  exclaimed,  ' '  My  punishment  is 
greater  than  I  can  bear. "  * 

Perception,  which  then  stood  in  the  place  of  that  which  Avas 
conscience  in  after  ages,  was  not  entirely  destroyed;  there  yet 
remained  some  of  its  correcting  impulses  and  suggestions,  and 
these  gave  rise  to  those  utterances  of  deep  despair.  Nor  were 
the  painful  sensations  of  their  present  state  the  sole  cause  of 
their  hopelessness:  they  had  a  foresight  of  calamity  in  the 
future,  and  hence  Cain  is  described  to  have  said  unto  the  Lord, 
"I  shall  be  driven  from  thy  face;  and  it  shall  come  to  pass, 
that  every  one  that  findeth  me  shall  slay  me.  "f  Such  were  the 
natural  anticipations  of  a  religious  community,  who  were  in  the 
process  of  being  convinced  that  they  had  extinguished  the  good 
and  falsified  the  truth,  which  God  had  mercifully  entrusted  to 
their  care  and  observance.  It  is  plain  that  the  dread  which  is 
declared  does  not  relate  to  the  fear  of  natural  life  being  de- 
stroyed,  but  to  the  alarm  occasioned  by  a  perception  of  the 

*Gen.  iv.  13.  f  Gen.  iv.  14. 

205 


206  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

danger  to  wliicli  spiritual  life  was  exposed.  According  to  the 
literal  sense,  there  was  only  Cain  himself,  with  Adam,  and  his 
mother,  then  in  existence.  Whom,  then,  was  he  to  fear  ?  By 
whom  could  such  a  deed  of  death  be  done  ?  * 

But  on  the  admission  that  there  were  other  persons,  of  whose 
origination  and  existence  the  history  does  not  distinctly  sjjeak, 
we  can  hardly  suppose  that  every  one  of  them  would  have  been 
so  exasperated  by  his  iniquity  as  to  be  ready  to  take  upon  him- 
self the  power  of  inflicting  judicial  vengeance.  In  our  own 
time  the  great  mass  of  mankind  shrink  in  dismay  from  such  an 
idea.  An  executioner  is  instinctively  felt  to  be  a  horrid  char- 
acter. This,  however,  is  not  the  subject  treated  of,  as  will  be 
very  apparent  after  a  moment's  attention  to  the  peculiar  structure 
of  the  sentence  which  expresses  the  fear,  namely, — "  Every  one 
that  findeth  me  shall  slay  me."  Now  "every  one"  that  found 
him  could  not  do  it;  f  he  had  but  one  life  to  lose,  and  this  could 
not  have  been  taken  by  every  one  with  whom  he  came  in  con- 
tact. It  is  therefore  evident  that  the  statement  does  not  relate 
to  the  infliction  of  natural  death,  and  that  we  must  refer,  for 
its  true  meaning,  to  the  phenomena  which  take  place  with  the 
inner  life  of  fallen  man.  It  is  there  alone  that  we  can  find  the 
realization  of  those  sensations  of  wliich  Cain's  language  is  ex- 
pressive. Those  wlio  are  principled  in  evils  of  any  kind  thereby 
expose  their  spiritual  life  to  spiritual  assailants.  Infernal  in- 
fluences and  thoughts  rush  into  every  avenue  which  is  opened 
in  the  mind  by  human  wickedness,  so  that  they  will  soon  be- 
come a  legion.  It  is  the  evils  which  pass  into  the  hearts  of  guilty 
men  that  make  them  fear.  There  is  a  well-known  proverb  in 
the  Church,  which  says,  "  Be  sure  your  sins  will  find  you  out." 
These  infest  the  guilty  with  trepidation  and  alarm,  because  they 

*  In  the  note  at  page  65  is  cited  the  supposition  on  which  a  large  nnmher 
of  persons  maybe  considered  as  existing  in  the  time  of  Cain.  Those  who 
have  adopted  that  view,  to  avoid  the  difficulty  which  the  literal  sense  of 
this  portion  of  the  history  suggests,  seem  not  to  have  observed  that  by  such 
an  opinion  they  are  in  collision  with  the  Apostle,  who  asserts  that  Enoch 
was  the  seventh  from  Adam  (Jude  14). 

t  Cain's  words  maybe  thought  to  be  only  a  general  and  loose  expression  of 
his  fears  that  some  one  would  avenge  himself  upon  him;  but  no  one  who 
considers  that  revelation  is  verbally  accurate,  and  that  every  expression  is 
significant  of  au  appropriate  idea,  can  reasonably  adhere  to  such  a  notion. 


FEAR    THE    RESULT    OF   WRONG-DOING.  207 

threaten  the  entire  extinction  of  all  spiritual  life.  The  language 
of  Cain's  fear  of  every  one,  then,  expresses  the  internal  conster-. 
nation  which  was  experienced  by  that  people  upon  the  entrance 
of  every  evil  influence  to  which  they  had  exposed  themselves. 
Having  perverted  the  truth  of  faith,  and  destroyed  the  good  of 
charity,  as  its  spiritual  brother,  they  were  brought  within  the 
sphere  of  terrible  temptations.  These  met  them  on  ever}"  side, 
and,  entering  into  them,  effected  their  distresses.  Their  fears 
for  the  dangerous  condition  of  their  spiritual  life  sprung  out  of 
the  severity  of  their  temptation.  Their  powder  over  the  means 
for  the  j^reservation  of  spiritual  good  had  become  exceedingly 
weak.  They  felt  that  every  source  of  happiness  was  fast  depart- 
ing; for  having  destroyed  charity,  they  possessed  no  power  for 
its  retention.  Thus  they  were  reduced  to  a  state  of  the  most 
painful  anxiety  and  deep  disquiet. 

These  ancient  experiences  have  had  their  counterpart  among 
transgressors  in  after  times.  Do  we  not  know  that  ever}'  viola- 
tion of  the  laws  of  goodness  has  been  attended  with  fears,  both 
external  and  internal:  external  fear  lest  we  should  be  discovered 
and  exposed;  and  internal  fear  lest  our  spiritual  disquiet  should 
result  in  the  destruction  of  that  happiness  which  man  regards 
to  be  his  inner  life?  Thus,  if  we  fall  into  the  guilt  of  rejecting 
charity  from  our  affections,  we  open  out  the  way  for  a  multitude 
of  evil  desires  and  false  persuasions  to  enter  in,  every  one  of 
which  brings  its  poison,  and  threatens  us  with  death.  The  ex- 
periences of  the  men  of  the  Church  in  our  times  satisfactorily 
explain  the  statement  of  Cain's  fears.  Evil  is  alike  in  its  con- 
sequences at  all  periods,  and  it  only  differs  in  the  degree  of  its 
enormity.  It  produces  similar  results  among  all  men;  more  or 
less  severe,-  as  the  conscience  may  have  been  more  or  less  accu- 
rately formed.  The  punishment  of  Avhich  Cain  complained  was 
a  condition  of  moral  agony  produced  by  the  presence  of  evil, 
admitted  through  the  destruction  of  charity;  and  his  fear  lest 
every  one  finding  him  should  slay  him  denoted  the  distress  that 
was  occasioned  l)y  every  temptation  that  found  in  him  a  plane 
u])on  which  it  could  operate  its  malignity.  Evil  and  falsehood 
slay  the  spiritual  life  of  religion  in  the  souls  of  its  professors, 
and  cause  them  to  have  nothing  of  genuine  happiness  or  heaven 
within  them.     The  fear  of  this  had  now'  produced  a  miserable 


208  TlIK    WORD    AND    ITS    INSIMHATION. 

inducm'o  iijioii  that   Itraucli  of  tlu>  niosl   anciiMit   Clnircli   called 
Cain. 

T\\c  ScriptuiTs  speak  of  similar  states  having  eonie  into  (exist- 
ence under  the  Jewish  dispensation;  and  those  who  were  their 
suhjeets  are  described  as  fearing  and  flying  from  the  sword. 
Thus  Moses,  sjieaking  of  those  who  persisted  in  their  transgres- 
sion, says,  "  U{)on  them  that  are  left  alive  of  you  I  will  send  a 
faintness  into  their  hearts  in  the  lands  of  their  enemies;  and  the 
sound  of  a  shaken  leaf  shall  chase  them;  and  they  shall  flee,  as 
fleeing  from  a  sword;  and  they  shall  fall  when  none  pursueth."* 
Here  it  is  evident  that  the  pain  of  evil  desires,  and  the  fear  of 
spiritual  death  thereby  occasioned,  are  the  subjects  treated  of. 
So,  again,  Jeremiah,  speaking  of  the  judgments  of  the  Ammon- 
ites, says,  "  Behold,  I  will  bring  a  fear  upon  thee,  saith  the  Lord 
God  of  hosts,  from  all  those  that  be  about  thee;  and  ye  shall  be 
driven  out  every  man  right  forth;  and  none  shall  gather  up  him 
that  wandereth."t  This  denouncement  is  nearly  parallel,  both 
in  sentiment  and  expression,  to  that  recorded  of  Cain:  he  feared 
all  those  that  were  aliout  him,  and  was  driven  out  from  the  face 
of  the  Lord.  The  wicked  cannot  do  otherwise  than  fear:  the 
loss  of  innocence,  with  the  consciousness  of  guilt,  afllict  them 
with  it.  They  can  have  but  little  hope  of  spiritual  life  here- 
after, when  they  reflect  that  the  doors  of  heaven  are  shut  against 
iniquity.  It  is  written,  that  "  w^ithout  are  dogs,  and  sorcerers, 
and  whoremongers,  and  murderiM's,  and  idolaters,  and  whoso- 
ever loveth  and  maketh  a  lie.  "|  This  is  a  law  which  nnist 
remain  perpetual  in  the  Church.  INFen  may  try  to  reason  away 
its  force,  by  supposing  that  the  Divine  justice  will  be  satisfied 
through  the  sufferings  of  a  victim  substituted  for  the  sinner,  and 
so  abstract  from  it  its  ]>ractieal  importance.  Still  th?y  will  have 
the  evidences  of  intuition,  that  heaven  is  only  for  the  good,  and 
that  none  are  faithful  but  those  who  are  obedient.  The  faith 
that  docs  not  remove  the  mountains  of  evil  which  afflict 
humanity  is  of  little  worth. §     Faith,  to  he  of  real  value,  must 

*  Lev.  xxvi.  36.  t  Jer.  xlix.  ,'>.  t  K^v.  xxii.  15. 

^  Jenyn  sensibly  observes,  "  The  true  Scriptural  nieaniuft  of  the  word  faith 
seems  nothinj^  more  tlian  a  doeility  or  promptitude  to  receive  truth  ;  and  the 
Christian  faitli,  to  believe  the  divine  authority  »)f  that  religion,  and  to  obey 
its  precepts  ;  in  this  sense  surely  too  much  merit  can  never  be  imputed  to  it : 


FAITH    p:NDANf;KnKI^    BV    TIIK    DEATH    f)F    CITARITV.   .        209 

have  its  ground  in  truth,  and  thus  possess  the  power  of  making 
men  good.  If  it  have  not. those  properties,  it  has  no  pedigree  in 
heaven,  hecause  all  that  proceeds  thence  is  intended  to  make 
men  wise  and  hapj)y. 

It  is  easy  to  understand,  as  a  general  princij)le,  that  the  state 
of  a  people  who  had  destroyed  within  themselves  the  life  of 
charity  must  have  heen  fearful  and  distressing;  nor  is  it  difficult 
to  perceive  that  their  anguish  was  much  greater  than  it  would 
have  been  had  they  been  an  ignf)rant  people.  This  they  were 
not.  There  are  certain  sensiljilities  which  attend  the  possession 
of  knowledge  that  are  exceedingly  acute:  they  are  Ijlunted  and 
deprived  of  mucli  of  their  poignancy  by  ignorance.  Cain  repre- 
sented an  enlightened  but  an  uncharitable  peoj)le.  The  wicked 
can  be  clever,  but  the  circumstance  of  knowing  what  is  right, 
and  doing  what  is  wrong,  augments  the  severity  of  the  jjunish- 
ment  which  ensues:  the  sin  of  ignorance  is  less  enormous  in  its 
consequences  than  the  sin  of  knowledge.  The  Lord  said,  "  He 
that  knew  not,  and  did  commit  things  worthy  of  stripes,  shall 
be  beaten  with  few  stripes.  For  unto  whomsoever  much  is 
given,  of  liim  shall  be  much  required."*  This  latter  state  was 
that  of  Cain;  they  transgressed  the  laws  of  goodness,  and  knew 
it;  they  pursued  their  own  uncharitable  course  with  open  eyes. 
They  were  not  ignorant  of  their  duty  to  man,  but  thought  that 
a  certain  faith  in  God  would  be  accepted  in  its  stead.  They 
substituted  knowledge  for  virtue  ;  extinguished  charity,  and 
trusted  to  solitary  faith  to  gain  for  them  admission  into  heaven. 
Hence  came  that  particular  condition  which  the  trepidation  and 

V)ut  since  this  denomination  has  heen  so  anderinined,  that  no  two  ages, 
nation.s,  or  sects  have  affixed  to  it  the  same  ideas  ;  and  so  ahsurd,  that  under 
it  every  ahsurdity  that  knavery  could  cram  down,  or  ignorance  swallow,  has 
been  comprehended  ;  since  it  is  still  capable  of  being  so  explained  as  to  mean 
anything  that  an  artful  preacher  pleases  to  impose  on  an  illiterate  audience  ; 
the  laying  too  great  stress  upon  it  must  be  highly  dangerous  to  the  religion 
and  liberties  of  mankind  :  but  the  proposing  it  as  a  composition  for  moral 
duties  is,  of  all  others,  the  most  mischievous  doctrine  ;  as  it  unhinges  all  our 
notions  of  divine  justice,  and  establishes  wickedness  upon  a  principle  ;  and 
it  is  the  more  mischievous,  as  it  cannot  fail  of  being  popular,  V>ecause,  as  is 
usually  intended,  it  is,  in  fact,  nothing  more  than  offering  to  the  people  a 
license  to  be  profligate  at  the  easy  price  of  being  absurd— a  bargain  which 
they  will  ever  readily  agree  to."  — Jen^/w's  Works,  vol.  i.,  p.  219. 
*  Luke  xii.  48. 
16 


210         •  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

alarm  of  Cain  were  intended  to  teach  us.  He  had  the  faith  of 
knowledge,  but  not  the  practice.  This  is  the  trait  of  character 
which,  in  all  our  consideration  of  Cain,  we  have  endeavoured  to 
keep  in  sight,  as  being  that  which  was  both  possessed  and  repre- 
sented by  him. 

But  who  does  not  see  that  the  existence  of  religious  knowledge 
is  endangered  by  the  life  of  evil  ?  The  faith  of  knowledge  in 
religious  things  is  placed  in  jeopardy  by  the  rejection  of  charity. 
By  the  faith  of  knowledge  we  mean  a  belief  in  what  is  under- 
stood to  be  true;  but  if  men  destroy  in  themselves  the  practice 
of  religious  good,  their  belief  in  religious  truth  is  placed  in  peril. 
The  truths  of  religion  live  and  acquire  their  perpetuity  by  being 
embodied  in  acts  of  usefulness  to  society.  Truth  becomes  good 
by  use.  The  truths  of  religion  are  to  teach  men  how  to  live;  if 
this  purpose  of  them  be  extinguished,  they  become  mere  intel- 
lectual things;  and  as  such  are  like  the  faith  of  Cain,  exposed 
to  death.  The  machine  rusts  when  it  is  thrown  out  of  employ; 
to  preserve  the  mechanism  bright  and  clean  it  must  be  kept  in 
use.  The  religious  knowledge  which  exists  merely  in  the  head 
will  soon  expire;  and  so  the  death  of  truth  is  to  be  feared  when 
the  life  of  charity  has  been  destroyed.  This  is  the  particular 
idea  of  which  the  recorded  dread  of  Cain  is  intended  to  inform 
us.  Charity  having  perished,  faith  was  placed  in  great  danger. 
Cain,  having  slain  his  brother  Abel,  now  began  to  fear  a  similar 
calamity.  How  can  those  preserve  their  faith  who  have  aban- 
doned virtue  ?  Men  do  not  long  remember  what  they  cease  to 
practise.  Cain's  fear  of  death  was  intended  to  shadow  forth  to 
us  the  danger  in  which  truth  is  placed  when  good  is  lost.  The 
orderl}''  and  affectionate  course  of  a  good  man  preserves  his  faith 
in  health  and  vigour;  the  vices  and  immoralities  of  the  wicked 
endanger  its  existence.  Every  evil  to  which  they  are  tempted 
inflicts  a  new  blow,  and  threatens  to  destroy  it:  the  reason  is, 
because  they  do  not  resist  these  evils,  but  fall  therein,  whenever 
they  are  assailed.  These  are  truths  of  experience,  and  how 
closely  do  they  resemble  the  state  indicated  by  Cain's  ex})res- 
sions  !  They  present  the  history  to  us  under  a  practical  aspect. 
It  comes  home  to  what  is  very  generally  known  and  felt  to  be 
the  case.  It  is  not  merely  a  fact  which  distinguished  an  ancient 
sect,  but  it  is  a  revelation  of  certain  religious  experiences  in  after 


WHY    CAIN    WAS    NOT    TO    BE    SLAIN.  211 

times.  Every  man  knows  that  the  retention  of  his  belief  is 
endangered  when  he  does  not  practise  its  instructions:  we  cannot 
long  beUeve  after  we  have  ceased  to  do;  and  the  Apostle  has 
most  eraphaticall}^  informed  us,  "that  faith  without  works  is 
dead."* 

From  these  considerations  we  see,  with  remarkable  accuracy, 
that  the  agony  of  Cain,  and  his  fear  of  death,  represented  the 
danger  to  which  truth  among  that  people  was  now  exposed,  in 
consequence  of  its  not  being  reduced  to  life.  This  brings  us  to 
another  point  in  this  investigation,  which  is  thus  expressed: 
"Whosoever  slayeth  Cain,  vengeance  shall  be  taken  on  him 
sevenfold.  And  the  Lord  set  a  mark  upon  Cain,  lest  any  find- 
ing him  should  kill  him. ' '  f 

The  first  general  remark  which  these  statements  educe  in  con- 
nection with  what  has  been  previously  explained  is,  that  faith, 
even  though  it  be  in  a  state  of  separation  from  charity,  is  to  be 
held  as  a  sacred  and  inviolable  principle  of  the  Church.  For  if 
Cain  really  represented  a  state  of  faith,  which  at  this  time  had 
dissolved  its  brotherhood  with  charity,  then  it  follows,  as  an 
irresistible  consequence,  that  the  strong  prohibition  of  his  death 
was  intended  to  express  the  necessity  for  its  preservation.  The 
faith  founded  on  truth  was  not  to  be  destroyed.  We  have  all 
along  insisted  that  the  faith  of  those  people  was  of  this  character: 
it  was  preserved  to  them  by  instruction  from  their  inmiediate 
predecessors  who  had  enjoyed  the  intelligence  of  Eden.  Their 
faith  was  founded  on  truth,  and  therefore  it  was  to  be  preserved. 
The  existence  of  Cain  was  to  be  maintained.  The  knowledge 
of  spiritual  truth  and  faith  therein  is  of  the  utmost  importance 
to  the  Church.  It  is  a  sacred  and  holy  principle,  and  as  such 
it  must  be  preserved  to  men.  Woe  to  those  by  whom  it  is  de- 
stroyed! The  reason  is  because  faith  in  truth  is  a  means  to 
good;  and,  indeed,  the  proper  source  through  which  it  is  to  be 
obtained.  Before  men  can  do  good  they  must  learn  the  laws  of 
truth  which  teach  it;  before  they  can  live  in  charity  with  all 
men,  from  a  religious  principle,  they  must  have  learned  the  law 
which  says,  ' '  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbour  as  thyself. ' '  Faith 
precedes  charity,  as  the  means  to  an  end.  To  erect  the  temple, 
we  must  first  lay  the  foundation:  we  must  know  the  Avay  to 
.    *Jas.  ii.  20.  fGeu.  iv.  15. 


212  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

virtue  before  we  can  walk  in  it;  and  tins  it  is  the  office  of  faith 
to  teach.  Faith  does  not  save,  but  it  points  out  the  way  to  that 
which  does:  it  is  this  which  constitutes  its  value  and  importance, 
and  this  is  the  end  for  which  it  was  to  be  protected  and  pre- 
served. "  He  that  cometh  to  God  must  believe  that  he  is,  and 
that  he  is  a  rewarder  of  them  that  diligently  seek  him. ' '  *  Thus 
faith  in  the  Divine  existence,  protection,  and  truth,  is  an  essen- 
tial ingredient  in  the  formation  of  the  religious  character.  It  is 
a  valuable  principle  in  God's  Church,  and  required  to  be  held 
in  high  esteem  by  men,  because  it  is  the  appointed  means  to 
every  good;  and  these  are  the  reasons  why  it  is  said  that  Cain 
should  not  be  slain. 

Of  course  it  was  possible  to  effect  this.  God  does  not  take 
away  the  liberty  of  men.  Those  Avho  had  destroyed  charity 
were  not  deprived  of  the  power  to  extinguish  faith;  but  if  they 
did  so,  vengeance  sevenfold  was  to  be  taken  on  them:  which 
plainly  denotes  that  a  full  and  complete  punishment  would 
result.  Can  we  not  see  the  rationale  of  this  announcement? 
The  punishment  was  not  the  arbitrary  infliction  of  God,  but  he 
has  revealed  it  as  the  necessary  consequence  of  a  certain  ex- 
tremity of  wickedness  on  the  part  of  man.  Do  we  not  perceive, 
that  if  mei-i  destroy  the  knowledges  of  faith,  they  thereby  entirely 
separate  themselves  from  truth,  and  consequently  abandon  both 
its  illumination  and  guidance  ?  What  must  be  the  condition  of 
such  persons  ?  Do  they  not  thereby  fill  up  the  measure  of  their 
iniquity  ?  The  man  who  destroys  within  himself  the  faith  of 
truth,  deprives  himself  of  the  means  of  learning  what  is  good; 
and  thus  intelligence,  as  well  as  virtue,  perishes.  Truth  and 
good  are  human  principles,  and  men  are  more  and  more  human 
as  they  receive  and  cherish  them;  but  if  they  reject  them,  they 
slay  the  essential  things  of  manhood,  and  thereby  rush  into  the 
characteristics  of  a  devil:  and  this  is  what  is  meant  by  the 
sevenfold  vengeance  that  was  to  be  taken  of  those  who  extin- 
guished the  truth  of  faith,  and  which  would  have  been  repre- 
sented by  the  slaying  of  Cain.  The  Lord  revealed  the  conse- 
quence, that  men  might  eschew  the  cause.  Here,  again,  we 
recognize  the  instructive  chnractor  and  mornl  lioaring  of  this 
narrative.      AVe  see  that  it   is  founded   on  the  very  nature  of 

*Hp1i.  xi.  6. 


WHAT    THE    MARK    OF    CAIN    WAS.  213 

moral  delinquency,  and  perceive  the  equity  of  the  declaration, 
"If  thou  doest  well,  shalt  thou  not  be  accepted?  and  if  thou 
doest  not  well,  sin  lieth  at  the  door."* 

To  prevent  this  disastrous  consequence,  so  far  as  it  could  be 
done  without  hindering  the  activity  of  human  freedom,  we  are 
informed  that  "the  Lord  set  a  mark  on  Cain,  lest  any  finding 
him  should  slay  him."  Of  course  this  mark  was  intended  to 
make  him  known,  to  testify  who  he  was,  and  to  operate  as  a 
preventive  against  any  attempt  at  his  destruction.  What,  then, 
was  the  nature  of  it?  Those  who  contemplate  the  narrative  in 
a  literal  sense  merely,  consider  it  to  have  been  some  physical 
distinction;  but  that  idea  we  conceive  there  is  every  reasonable 
ground  for  rejecting.  Such  a  mark  could  not  have  been  neces- 
sary for  pointing  him  out  to  those  of  whom  the  history  informs 
us;  they  must  have  known  him  without  it;  and  if  there  had 
been  no  other  persons  in  the  world,  the  safest  way  to  avoid  their 
revenge  would  have  been  to  absent  himself  from  the  family. 
That  opinion  of  the  narrative  plainly  includes  the  idea  of  there 
being  other  persons  who  might  have  heard  of  his  crime,  but  to 
whom  he  was  not  known;  also,  that  his  wandering  or  vagabond 
condition  would  bring  him  into  contact  with  them,  and  that 
they  were  to  be  warned  against  offering  violence  to  him.  The 
fact  of  a  larger  community  existing  than  the  letter  of  the  history 
expresses  must  be  conceded.  The  setting  of  the  mark  might 
have  deterred  men  from  slaying  him,  if  they  had  been  informed 
that  it  was  set  with  the  view  of  preventing  such  a  crime;  still  it 
may  be  asked  whether  it  was  not  the  most  likely  way  to  have 
called  attention  to  his  character,  and  thus  to  have  rendered  him 
a  subject  of  general  abhorrence.  While,  therefore,  it  may  be 
said  to  have  been  the  means  for  the  preservation  of  his  life,  it 
must  likewise  be  said  to  have  been  the  cause  of  giving  publicity 
to  his  crime,  and  so  to  have  realized  some  of  those  distresses 
which  he  is  considered  to  have  apprehended.  This  point  of 
view  takes  away  that  idea  of  mercy  and  forbearance  which  the 
affixing  of  the  mark  at  first  sight  supposes;  and  other  difficulties 
may  be  raised  against  the  physical  sense  of  it;  on  which,  how- 
ever, we  need  not  dwell. 

The  many  curious  conjectures  which  have  been  seriously  ex- 
*  Gen.  iv.  7. 


214  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

pressed  as  to  what  this  mark  avus,  will  show  the  necessity  for 
having  recourse  to  a  different  view  of  the  subject.  Some  have 
imagined  that  he  was  rendered />c(ra/7/^ic;*  and  others  have  sup- 
posed that  God  impressed  some  letter  upon  Cain's  forehead, 
taken  either  from  the  name  of  Abel  or  Jehovah,  f  Others  say 
that  it  consisted  of  three  letters,  which  composed  the  name  of 
the  sabbath;  and  a  few  assert  tliat  it  was  the  sign  of  the  cross. 
Some  have  thought  that  it  consisted  in  a  wild  asjject,  ivith  blood- 
shot eyes  rolling  in  a  horrid  manner ;  \  and  others  assert  that  it 
was  the  Hel^rew  letter  tau  marked  on  his  forehead,  and  that  it 
was  to  signify  his  contrition,  because  it  is  the  first  letter  in  the 
Hebrew  word  teshubah,  which  denotes  repentance.  There  are 
those  who  have  thought  that  it  was  AbeVs  sheepdog,  given  to 
him  for  a  travelling  companion;  §  and  others  have  maintained 
that  it  was  a  horn,  which  grew  out  of  his  forehead.  ||  It  has 
been  said  that  the  mark  was  a  circle  of  the  sun  rising  upon 
him;^[  also,  that  it  meant  that  "a  sword  could  not  pierce  him; 
fire  could  not  burn  him;  water  could  not  drown  him;  the  air 
could  not  blast  him;  nor  could  thunder  or  lightning  strike 
him."** 

It  is  useless  to  increase  these  "curiosities  of  literature"  on 
the  subject,  or  to  offer  any  comment.      It  is  enough  to  say  that 

*This  idea  seems  founded  on  the  Septiiagint  Version,  which  has  rendered 
what  tlie  Enjflish  translation  called  a  fugitive  and  vagabond,  by  words  which 
signify  groaning  and  trembling.  We  have  remarked  on  this  version  of  the 
original  iu  a  preeediug  note.     See  page  203. 

t  The  Targum  of  Jonathan  ben  Uzziel.        J  See  Bayle's  Diet.  Art.  Cain. 

?  Abravenel.  ||  Rabbi  Joseph. 

^  The  author  of  Bereshith  Rabba,  a  comment  on  Genesis. 

** The  author  of  an  Arabic  Catena,  iu  the  Bodleian  library,  cited  by  Dr. 
A.  Clarke.  See  also  Dr.  Shuckford,  on  the  general  subject  of  Cain's  mark. 
Dr.  Thos.  Brown's  "  Vulgar  Errors  "  may  also  be  consulted.  Matthew  Poole 
remarks,  "  What  this  visible  token  of  tlie  Divine  displeasure  was  God  hath 
not  revealed  to  us,  nor  doth  it  concern  us  to  know."  Here  the  mark  is 
called  a  mark  of  "  Divine  displeasure  ";  whereas  the  whole  history  of  the  cir- 
cumstance shows  it  to  have  been  the  means  of  protection,  and  so  of  bless- 
ing !  The  writer  says  it  does  not  concern  us  to  know  what  it  was!  we  do 
not  believe  there  is  anything  mentioned  iu  God's  Word  of  which  it  does  not 
deeply  concern  us  to  know  the  meaning,  and  which  it  is  not  our  duty  to 
endeavour  to  learn. 


THE    MARK    OF    CAIN    ILLUSTRATED.  215 

not  one  of  these  speculations  has  fastened  itself  upon  the  credi- 
bihty  of  the  Church;  nor  will  any  other  that  is  founded  on  the 
idea  of  physical  distinction  be  'more  successful.  For  a  more 
prosperous  issue  in  this  inquiry,  other  ground  must  be  taken. 

The  Hebrew  word  oth^  which  in  our  version  is  translated  a 
mark,  also  signifies  a  sign,  or  token.  The  bow  *  was  to  be  leoth, 
for  a  sign,  or  token,  between  the  Lord  and  the  earth;  therefore 
the  original,  rendered,  "  And  the  Lord  set  a  viark  upon  Cain," 
might  have  been  translated.  And  the  Lord  appointed  to  Cain  a 
token  or  a  sign,  by  which  he  was  to  know  that  a  special  provi- 
dence protected  his  life.  Although  this  version  may  not  be 
free  from  every  objection,  yet  it  sets  the  inquirer  upon  the  right 
path:  it  contemplates  the  mark  to  have  been  of  a  mental  or 
moral  kind;  and  if  we  view  the  subject  from  this  aspect,  we 
shall  be  able  to  see  both  its  utility  and  its  nature,  f 

The  setting  a  mark  upon  Cain  is  not  the  only  instance  of  such 
a  circumstance  being  mentioned  in  the  Scriptures.  The  prophet 
was  commanded  to  ' '  go  through  the  midst  of  the  city,  through 
the  midst  of  Jerusalem,  and  set  a  mark  upon  the  foreheads  of 
the  men  that  sigh  and  that  cry  for  all  the  abominations  that  be 
done  in  the  midst  thereof. ' '  X  Here  the  marking  is  not  men- 
tioned to  express  the  idea  of  fixing  any  physical  impression, 
but  rather  to  notice  the  sorrowful  condition  of  those  who  saw 
and  lamented  the  wdckedness  of  the  people:  the  mark,  there- 
fore, by  which  they  were  distinguished,  consisted  in  some  spir- 
itual love  for  propriety  and  goodness.  This  mark  is  said  to 
have  been  in  the  forehead,  because  that,  as  the  supreme  part  of 
the  face,  in  which  the  affections  are  reflected,  corresponds  to 
love.  This  was  the  mark  to  which  the  Apostle  pressed  forward 
for  the  prize  of  the  high  calling  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus.  §  In 
the  Revelation,  we  read  that  the  locusts  should  hurt  ' '  only  those 
men  who  have  not  the  seal  (mark)  of  God  in  their  foreheads. "|| 

*Gen.  ix.  13. 

t  Dr.  Raphall  translates  the  passage,  "The  Lord  appointed  a  sign  unto 
Cayin";  and  remarks  concerning  it,  tliat  "commentators  have  exercised 
their  skill  and  inventive  faculties  to  discover  the  nature  of  this  sign,  but 
have  offered  nothing  satisfactory  on  the  sul)ject." — "  The  Sacred  Scriptures  in 
Hebrew  and  Euglish." 

I  Ezek.  ix.  4.  ?  Phil.  iii.  14.  Il  Kev.  ix.  4. 


216  THE    WORD   AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

Every  one  who  is  so  disposed  may  see  that  the  mark  of  God 
is  the  iiu press  of  some  spiritual  excellence,  distinguishing  tlie 
characters  of  those  of  whom  it  is  predicated.  The  mark  of  the 
good  is  the  meekness  of  their  virtues;  the  mark  of  the  intelli- 
gent is  the  strength  of  their  knowledge:  and  these  marks  are 
the  gifts  of  God.  Here  it  is  of  importance  to  observe  that  the 
mark  set  upon  Cain  was  the  mark  of  the  Lord.  It  is  distinctly 
written  that  the  Lord  set  a  mark  upon  liim.  It  was  a  mark, 
not  to  indicate  a  curse,  but  to  distinguish  for  preservation.  It 
is  not  said  to  have  been  affixed  to  any  particular  part  of  his 
person,  because  it  was  intended  to  characterize  all  the  faith  of 
W'hich  he  was  the  representative.  Those  who  destroy  charity, 
mark  themselves;  those  who  cherish  the  knowledges  of  truth, 
retain  thereby  the  mark  of  God.  The  mark  of  those  who 
destroy  charity  is,  in  the  Revelation,  described  as  the  mark  of 
the  beast.*  When  false  principles  of  religion  are  imbibed,  they 
impress  upon  man's  character  the  moral  scars  and  evidences  of 
his  defection.  The  mark  which  Cain  set  upon  himself  was  in- 
dicated in  the  falling  of  his  countenance,  and  in  the  kindling 
of  his  anger:  it  consisted  in  the  impure  state  of  his  affections, 
arising  from  his  having  rejected  the  influences  of  good.  The 
external  mark  of  wicked  men  is  a  disorderly  life;  the  internal 
mark  is  impurity  of  love.  Outward  vice  is  a  sign  of  the  decay 
of  inward  virtue.  The  conduct  of  men  is  a  mark  by  which  we 
distinguish  one  class  from  another.  It  is  by  this  that  w^e  dis- 
criminate between  the  good  and  the  bad.  The  Lord  has  told  us, 
"  By  their  fruits  ye  shall  know  them."  Thus  it  is  easy  to 
understand  the  nature  of  the  mark  which  Cain  may  have  set 
upon  himself,  in  consequence  of  the  death  which  he  had  in- 
flicted upon  charity.  But  the  mark  Avhich  was  set  upon  him  by 
God  was  of  another  kind.  This  had  reference  to  that  charac- 
teristic of  faith,  of  which  we  have  seen  he  was  the  type.  He, 
or,  wdiat  is  the  same  thing,  the  people  under  that  name,  knew 
the  truths  of  religion,  althougli  they  had  discarded  its  virtues. 
This  knowledge  was  of  great  value  and  importance,  therefore  it 
was  to  be  regarded  and  preserved.  It  was  the  ground  and  ])illar 
of  faith;  on  this  acc(nint  it  was  to  be  esteemed  as  a  sacred  thing 
— the    monitor  of  virtue,   the  directing  staff  to  heaven.     It  is 

*  Rev.  xvi.  2. 


THE    WORD   GIVEN    TO    BE    UNDERSTOOD.  217 

essential  to  the  right  development  of  every  other  princdple  of 
the  Church.  It  is  the  lever  Avhich,  when  put  in  motion,  is  to 
lift  men  up  to  the  land  of  blessedness.  The  knowledges  of  truth 
constituted  the  faith  which  was  represented  and  maintained  by 
the  people  called  Cain;  and  although  its  existence  was  endan- 
gered by  the  destruction  of  charity,  yet  it  was  to  be  respected 
and  preserved,  because  it  Avas  to  be  a  means  whereby  the  gifts 
of  God  might  be  communicated.  That  people  knew  that  what 
they  believed  was  a  reality.  They  saw  the  evidence,  and  under- 
stood that  it  Avas  true.  Their  faith  did  not  consist  in  believing 
certain  propositions  because  some  jDcrsons  in  authority  had 
taught  them,  or  because  they  had  become  mere  dogmata  in  the 
Church;  but  they  believed  the  propositions  of  religious  truth, 
because  they  fell  within  the  grasp  of  their  understandings. 
They  comprehended  Avhat  they  believed,  either  on  the  testimony 
of  facts  or  by  the  light  of  perception.  Their  faith  Avas  founded 
on  truth,  clearly  and  definitely  seen  to  be  such;  and  this  is 
the  mark  by  Avhich  God  has  mercifully  distinguished  it.  The 
internal  consciousness  and  intellectual  certainty  that  the  sub- 
jects of  faith  are  true,  constitute  the  mark  by  Avhich  faith  Avas 
to  be  knoAvn  in  after  ages.  It  is  given  by  God,  that  men  may 
knoAV  it,  and  that,  by  knoAving  it,  they  may  be  led  to  respect  it, 
and  so  be  preserved  from  the  danger  Avhich  must  folloAV  its 
destruction.  Men  were  to  knoAV  that  their  faith  Avas  truth, 
through  an  understanding  of  its  subjects.  This  was  to  be  the 
mark  for  distinguishing  betAveen  truth  and  error;  and  if  we  do 
not  recognize  it  in  our  belief  about  spiritual  things,  then  Ave  are 
Avithout  the  evidence  by  Avhich  it  has  been  marked  by  God  him- 
self. He  Avishes  men  to  understand  Avhat  they  believe:  he 
desires  that  their  knoAvledge  should  be  correct;  and  hence  he 
has  caused  it  to  be  Avritten,  that  "they  Avho  Avorship  him  must 
Avorship  him  in  spirit  and  in  truth."* 

The  religious  things  which  were  knoAvn  to  Cain  Avere  the 
results  of  an  internal  perception  peculiar  to  the  most  ancient 
Church,  ansAvering  the  same  use  Avith  them  as  the  revelation, 
Avhich  has  been  subsequently  vouchsafed,  does  Avith  us;  and 
those  knoAvledges  Avere  retained,  though  their  virtues  had  been 
neglected. 

*Johuiv.  24. 


218  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

Ill  order  that  man  may  now  know  what  Divine  truth  is  upon 
religious  subjects,  the  Lord  has  mercifully  provided  him  his 
holy  Word,  and  endowed  him  with  the  ability  for  comprehend- 
ing it.  The  Word  and  the  human  understanding  are  both  God's 
good  gifts,  and  therefore  they  cannot  be  designed  to  repel  each 
other:  if  in  any  case  they  are  found  to  do  so,  we  may  rest 
assured  either  that  the  understanding  has  been  corrupted,  or 
that  the  meaning  of  the  Word  has  been  perverted.  Tlie  Word 
is  given  for  man  rationally  .and  intellectually  to  understand  its 
teachings:  the  faith  which  is  thus  perceived  is  the  faith  of  truth, 
and  this  is  the  characteristic  which  God  has  set  upon  it,  and 
which  he  is  wishful  to  preserve:  every  one,  therefore,  may  see 
that  to  destroy  it  with  such  a  mark  of  its  origin,  utility,  and 
importance,  must  needs  be  followed  by  that  calamity  which 
is  described  as  sevenfold  vengeance. 

These  considerations  lead  us  into  a  more  intimate  acquaint- 
ance with  the  nature  of  faith  as  a  means  to  goodness;  they  show 
us  that  the  constitution  of  faith  is  truth,  marked  and  character- 
ized as  such  by  God  himself.  If  we  see  this  mark  upon  any 
religious  doctrine  which  is  propounded  for  the  acceptance  of 
mankind,  we  should  be  careful  that  we  do  not  slay  it.  To 
do  so  is  to  peril  the  safety  and  satisfaction  of  our  intellect. 
Whenever  God  permits  us  to  see  a  religious  truth,  he  designs 
that  we  should  preserve  and  cherish  it.  Such  a  sight  is  an  act 
of  his  particular  providence,  intended  for  our  especial  good. 
Let  us,  then,  endeavour  to  bring  this  subject  home  to  our  busi- 
ness and  our  bosoms.  Does  the  reader  see  that  these  interpre- 
tations of  the  Word  bear  upon  them  the  impress  of  truth  ? 
Do  these  views  of  the  narrative  affect  him  as  being  reasonable  in 
themselves,  in  agreement  with  the  teachings  of  the  ^^\n•d,  the 
purposes  of  God,  and  the  means  to  virtue?  If  so,  it  is  the  mark 
intended  to  distinguish  them  for  his  respect  and  preservation. 
This  is  the  only  mark  of  faith  which  can  be  given,  and  what 
other  would  a  rational  man  desire  ?  To  extinguish  it  after  the 
recognition  of  the  evidence  of  its  existence,  is  to  destroy  the  dic- 
tate of  man's  rational  nature,  and  evince  the  most  criminal  indif- 
ference concerning  the  particular  providences  of  God! 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

THE  LAND  OF  NOD.-CAINS  SON.— THE  BUILDING  OF  A  CITY, 
AND  CALLING  IT  AFTER  THE  NAME  OF  HIS  SON  ENOCH. 

"The  Hebrew  narrative  is  more  than  human  in  its  origin,  and  consequently  true  in 
every  substantial  part  of  it,  though  possibly  expressed  in  figurative  language ;  as 
many  learned  and  pious  man  have  believed,  and  as  the  most  pious  may  believe 
without  injury  ;  and  perhaps  with  advantage  to  the  cause  of  revealed  religion." — 
Sir  W.  Jones'  Works,  p.  137. 

Moses  concludes  his  account  of  Cain  in  these  words:  "  And 
Cain  went  out  from  the  presence  of  the  Lord,  and  dwelt  in  the 
land  of  Nod,  on  the  east  of  Eden.  And  Cain  knew  his  wife; 
and  she  conceived,  and  bare  Enoch:  and  he  builded  a  city,  and 
called  the  name  of  the  city,  after  the  name  of  his  son,  Enoch."* 
The  circumstances  mentioned  in  these  statements  have  not  en- 
gaged so  much  critical  attention  as  some  other  parts  of  the  Ante- 
diluvian history  which  have  been  considered.  They  are,  how- 
ever, not  the  less  interesting  on  that  account.  We  shall  find 
that  they  describe  important  events  in  the  moral  history  of  a 
declining  Church.  The  histories  in  the  Bible  are  the  special 
histories  of  the  human  mind,  written  under  the  superintendence 
of  a  particular  providence,  and  designed  to  reveal  some  of  its 
most  remarkable  activities  and  developments.  Though  they 
appear  to  have  respect  to  particular  times,  and  to  relate  for  the 
most  part  to  a  privileged  people,  yet  in  reality  they  belong  to  all 
periods,  and  are  adapted  for  the  instruction  of  all  men.  There 
is  nothing  obsolete  in  the  Bible.  Its  truths  are  always  fresh  and 
powerful.  Its  histories,  the  rites  and  ceremonies  which  it 
commands,  together  with  the  idolatries  and  transgressions  which 
it  denounces,  are  such  as  may  be  realized  over  and  over  again  in 
the  states  of  the  affections  and  thoughts  of  men.  This  is  the 
reason  why  the  Lord  has  said  that  his  ' '  words  are  spirit  and 
life ' ' ;  they  relate  to  the  inner  sensations  and  living  principles 

*  Gen.  iv.  16,  17. 
219 


220  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

of  men:  these  have  contributed  to  the  outer  histories  of  the 
Word.  The  visible  aspect  of  a  society  or  of  a  nation  is  derived 
from  the  principles,  opinions,  and  feelings  of  the  people:  and 
men,  who  write  these  histories,  describe  chiefly  their  visiljle 
events  and  consequences;  but  God,  who  has  superintended  the 
production  of  the  written  histories  of  his  Word,  has  caused 
them  to  be  so  constructed  that  they  might  also  represent  the 
s[)iritual  motives  in  which  such  effects  originate.  The  histories 
of  men  regard  outer  things;  the  histories  of  God  refer  to  inner 
tilings,  and  to  the  things  which  are  without,  only  as  the  means 
for  representing  those  within:  the  former  relate  mostly  to  the 
natural,  the  latter  principally  to  the  mental  world. 

The  good  which  may  be  implanted  in  human  nature  will  ever 
present  the  same  general  phase  to  the  world,  allowing  only  for 
that  peculiar  distinctiveness  which  it  must  acquire  by  coming 
in  contact  with  our  idiosyncrasies.  The  evil  which  men  may 
cherish  will  always  exhibit  the  like  distorted  features  to  society, 
more  or  less  modified  in  their  enormity  by  the  personal  fears  or 
darings  of  the  individual.  Men  of  love  are  amiable  and  benevo- 
lent; men  of  hate  are  severe  and  wicked.  The  Bible  is  de- 
signed to  encourage  the  former,  to  Avarn  the  latter,  and  thus  to 
treat  of  both  conditions  under  their  respective  varieties.  Observe 
it  treats  of  them  not  so  much  in  respect  to  their  outward  position 
as  to  their  inward  condition.  The  AVord  always  has  been,  and 
always  will  be,  a  powerful  exhibition  of  the  state  of  the  Church 
with  men  under  all  possible  circumstances.  It  is  thus  a  revela- 
tion informing  us  of  the  extent  of  the  Divine  presence  and  its 
blessings,  together  with  the  nature  of  the  apparent  Divine 
absence  and  its  consequences.  The  exposition  of  the  subjects 
which  belong  to  this  chapter  will,  in  some  measure,  serve  as 
additional  confirmations  of  these  views  of  tlie  holy  Word.  We 
do  not,  however,  regard  this  Mosaic  description  in  the  light  of 
merely  external  history;  we  receive  it  only  as  a  portion  of  that 
grand  allegory  under  which  the  Antediluvian  jDcriod  is  repre- 
sented. 

Every  one  must  see  that  the  description  of  Cain's  going  out 
from  the  presence  of  the  Lord  is  purely  figurative;  no  one  can 
be  separated  from  the  Omnipresent  in  any  real  sense  ;  for  the 
Psalmist  has  said,    ' '  Whither  shall   I  go  from  thy  spirit  ?  or 


DEPARTURE    FROM    GOD's    PRESENCE.  221 

whither  shall  I  flee  from  thy  presence  ?  If  I  ascend  into  heaven, 
thou  art  there:  if  I  make  my  bed  in  hell,  behold,  thou  art  there. 
If  I  take  the  wings  of  the  morning,  and  dwell  in  the  uttermost 
parts  of  the  sea;  even  there  shall  thy  hand  lead  me,  and  thy 
right  hand  shall  hold  me. — Yea,  darkness  hideth  not  from  thee; 
but  the  night  shineth  as  the  day:  the  darkness  and  the  light  are 
both  alike  to  iAce.  "* 

It  has  been  considered,  from  the  above  statement  concerning 
Cain,  that  the  Lord  had  a  special  presence  with  Adam  and  his 
immediate  posterity,  somewhat  resembling  what  the  Rabbins 
have  expressed  by  the  term  Shekinah.f  The  circumstance  of 
Adam  and  his  wife  having  directly  after  their  fall  "  hid  them- 
selves from  the  j^resence  of  the  Lord  amongst  the  trees  of  the 
garden, "J  is  thought  to  be  the  expression  of  that  idea.  This, 
however,  cannot  be  w^ell  supported.  The  Church,  indeed,  is  the 
special  dwelling-place  of  the  Almighty;  that  is  to  say,  it  is  there 
where  his  presence  is  more  distinctly  recognized :  hence  He  may 
be  said  to  have  had  such  a  presence  with  Adam  as  has  not  been 
experienced  by  any  other  people.  In  this  sense  he  has  also  had 
a  presence  with  the  Jews  unlike  that  which  existed  with  the 
Gentiles,  and  likewise  with  Christians  different  from  that  which 
has  prevailed  with  those  who  are  not  so.  Under  this  aspect  we 
at  once  see,  that  to  go  out  from  the  Divine  presence  must  denote 
the  cessation  in  man  of  those  sentiments  by  which  alone  the 
Lord  can  be  pei'ceived;  and  this  furnishes  us  with  a  rational 
interpretation  of  Cain's  going  out  from  the  presence  of  the 
Lord. 

It  is,  however,  to  be  observed  that  the  original  does  not  really 
speak  of  the  presence,  but  of  the  face  of  the  Lord :  it  was  from 
the  face  of  the  Lord  that  he  went  out;  and  consequently  it  was 
the  fulfilment  of  his  own  declaration  unto  the  Lord,  "  From  thy 
face  shall  I  behid.  "§  The  Scriptures  do  frequently  speak  of 
the  Lord's  ])rcsence,  and  also  of  his  face;  but  each  term  is  in- 

*  Psa   cxxxix.  7-12. 

t  By  the  Shekiuah  is  understood  the  visible  symbol  of  the  Diviue  presence, 
which  rested  over  the  propitiatory  in  the  shape  of  a  cloud,  and  from  which 
God  gave  fortli  his  oracles  when  consulted  by  the  high  priest. 

X  Gen.  iii.  8.  ^  Gen.  iv.  14. 


222  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

tended  to  set  forth  its  own  idea.  The  Lord's  j>rc.s^e»cc  is  per- 
ceived by  means  of  truth,  but  His  face  is  known  only  by  means 
of  love.  Now  Cain  yet  retained  many  knowledges  of  the  divine 
trutli,  and  consequently  he  could  not  yet  have  actually  departed 
from  the  Lord's  'presence ;  but  he  had  relinquished  the  senti- 
ments of  Divine  love,  and  therefore  he  really  did  go  out  from 
the  Divine  face. 

The  face  of  man  indicates  every  emotion  of  the  human  heart: 
he  may  prevent  his  thoughts  from  appearing  in  his  conversa- 
tion; l)ut  the  most  consummate  dissimulation  cannot  prevent 
his  face  from  disclosing  any  real  and  earnest  affection  he  may 
possess.  Offend  modesty,  and  it  will  blush;  accuse  the  guilty, 
and  they  become  pale.  Thus  love  and  anger,  fear  and  hatred, 
joy  and  sadness, — in  sliort,  every  passion  which  may  seize  the 
heart,  will  be  seen  to, impress  itself,  with  more  or  less  distinct- 
ness, upon  the  face.  Hence  the  face  of  the  Lord  is  mentioned 
to  represent  His  love;  that  is,  His  essential  and  never-varying 
character.  "God  is  love."  Those  who  are  in  faith  observe  His 
presence;  but  those  who  are  in  love  perceive  His  face.  Those 
who  give  up  that  love,  as  we  have  seen  was  the  case  with  Cain, 
necessarily  depart  from  that  face,  and  in  consequence  of  this 
they  dwelt  in  the  land  of  Nod,  on  the  east  of  Eden. 

AVhat,  then,  is  the  land  of  Nod  ?  Was  it  a  geographical 
locality  ?  Of  course  the  people  were  inhaVnting  a  specific 
country;  but  it  is  a  change  of  their  state  rather  than  a  change 
of  their  dwelling  which  is  the  subject  treated  of.  Nod  literally 
means,  the  land  of  exile,  a  vagabond :  spiritually  it  means  the 
destitution  of  goodness  and  truth — as  we  shall  presently  see. 
The  Septuagint  and  Josephus  call  it  Naid,  and  they  seem  to 
have  regarded  it  as  a  place.  But  where  was  Naid  ?  An  altered 
reading  of  the  Hebrew  term  offers  no  explanation;  and  no  one 
knows  anything  more  about  the  one  than  the  other.  Regarded 
as  a  place,  it  could  not  have  received  the  name  Kocl  until  after 
Cain  had  entered  it;  because  by  that  term,  as  just  oliscrved,  is 
meant  a  vagabond;  it  is  the  untranslated  Hebrew  word  for  that 
idea;  and  we  can  hardly  conceive  that  society  had  as  yet  set 
apart  any  i)artit;u]ar  land  for  the  special  residence  of  its  vaga- 
bonds. There  are  no  grounds  for  supposing  that  juris})rud('uce 
had  then  so  far  advanced  as  to  have  provided  a  land  for  the 


WHAT    IS    MEANT    BY    THE    LAND    OF    NOD.  223 

transportation  of  criminals.  Surely  there  was  no  penal  settle- 
ment in  those  early  times  at  all  answering  to  the  ' '  Hulks  ' '  or 
the  "Botany  Bay"  of  modern  history.  Why,  then,  is  it  said 
that  there  was  a  land  whose  name  was  significant  of  this  idea? 
St.  Jerome  and  the  Chaldee  interpreters  are  said  -'^  to  have  taken 
a  view  of  this  subject  by  which  this  inquiry  is  in  some  measure 
met.  They  thought  that  Nod  ought  to  be  understood  only  as 
the  appellation  of  Cain;  and  that  his  being  said  to  dwell  in  the 
land  of  Nod  merely  meant  that  he  dwelt  in  the  land  a  vaga- 
bond. This  indeed  removes  part  of  the  difficulty  contemplated; 
nor  do  we  see  that  it  is  an 3^  essential  departure  from  the  Hebrew 
text:  still  it  explains  no  more  of  the  circumstances  in  which 
Cain  stood  after  he  went  out  from  the  face  of  the  Lord,  than  is 
included  in  the  fact  of  his  having  been  declared  a  vagal:)ond  l)e- 
fore  that  departure  took  place;  and  surely  something  more  was 
intended  to  be  conveyed  by  the  statement. 

But  it  is  useless  criticism  to  endeavour  to  attach  a  geographi- 
cal idea  to  a  name  that  is  plainly  the  appellation  of  a  state 
which  had  overtaken  the  faith  of  a  degenerate  people.  Those 
denoted  by  Cain  having  become  vagabond  in  respect  to  the 
sentiments  of  faith,  are  said  to  have  dwelt  in  the  land  of  Nod, 
in  order  to  describe  that  they  had  lost  all  settled  convictions  about 
what  is  good  and  true,  and  that  they  were  living  in  a  state  of 
exile  from  them,  and  uncertainty  concerning  them.  Those  who 
fall  into  doubts  about  the  truths  of  faith  are  obviously  in  a 
wandering  condition  respecting  them;  and  so  long  as  they  are 
in  such  a  state,  they  dwell  in  that  which  the  land  of  Nod  was 
intended  to  express.  When  good  goes  out  from  the  mind, 
doubt  enters  into  it;  and  therefore  the  things  of  faith  come  to 
be  regarded  as  objects  of  speculation  merely  i  and  however  true 
those  things  may  have  been  in  their  beginnings,  they  are  soon 
unsettled  by  the  evils  of  life  which  follow  the  rejection  of 
charity,  and  a  turning  away  from  the  Divine  face.  Men  can- 
not long  retain  a  belief  in  truth,  after  they  have  extinguished 
the  love  of  goodness.  Their  notions  about  religion  and  spiritual 
things  are  continually  wandering.  The  faith  of  the  disobedient 
is  necessarily  changing.  Transgression  is  sure  to  produce  doubt. 
Evil  doers  are  driven  about  by  every  wind  of  doctrine;  and 
*  Rf^v.  .1.  Wood's  "Dictionary  of  the  Bible,"  Art.  Nod. 


224  THE   WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

whenever  they  fall  into  disgrace  and  danger,  will  embrace  any 
ideas  which  may  promise  them  relief  from  suffering,  or  protec- 
tion from  calamity.  They  will  be  found  more  attentive  to  the 
promises  of  security  than  to  the  means  of  attaining  it.  Their 
minds  are  occupied  about  relief  and  deliverance  as  an  end, 
rather  than  about  the  necessary  means  by  which  they  are  to 
come.  This  fact  has  thousands  of  proofs,  both  in  the  lives  and 
deaths  of  the  wicked.  The  sinking  man  grasps  at  straws;  but 
they  do  not  save  him.  So  the  faith  which  has  extinguished 
charity  is  a  weak,  unsteady  thing:  it  leaves  the  heart  open  to 
the  sallies  of  every  lust;  and  hence  the  bonds  of  truth  are 
broken:  whereupon  men  pass  from  the  face  of  the  Lord,  and 
dwell  in  the  land  of  Nod, — that  is,  they  live  in  a  state  of  mind 
which  is  vagabond  and  fugitive  in  respect  to  all  good  things. 

In  this  light  the  statements  come  home  to  our  experience. 
In  disclosing  the  moral  condition  of  Cain,  they  are  also  a  reve- 
lation ai^d  a  warning  to  all  men.  They  show  us  consequences 
which  must  result  to  our  faith,  whenever  we  disregard  the  life 
of  charity  and  avert  ourselves  from  the  face  of  God.  Nod  has 
not  a  place  in  this  world's  geography,  and  hence  men  have 
never  found  it  there,  but  it  is  a  state  in  the  mind's  degeneracy 
which  multitudes  have  discovered:  and  it  is  said  to  have  been 
toivards  the  east  of  Eden,  to  signify  that  the  state  now  treated  of 
had  respect  to  the  understanding.  The  east  is  the  Lord,  and 
Eden  is  love;*  consequently,  the  east  of  Eden  is  the  Lord  re- 
garded as  the  supreme  object  of  love.  But  this  love  was  de- 
parted from  Cain,  and  another  sentiment  had  usurped  its  place. 
Still  it  was  provided  that  the  understanding,  wherein  the  prin- 
ciples of  faith  resided,  should,  notwithstanding  their  fugitive 
condition,  be  preserved  in  the  capacity  for  knowing  truth  and 
goodness,  and  so  be  toward  the  east  of  Eden.  The  understand- 
ing, amidst  all  its  embarrassments,  has  had  preserved  to  it  this 
capacity;  and,  although  it  may  be  driven  about  by  every  wind 
of  doctrine,  this  capacity  will  keep  it  in  that  direction.  How 
many  persons  have  lived  for  a  considerable  period  in  states  of 
fluctuation  and  uncertainty  about  tlie  things  of  spiritual  truth, 
and  so,  in  the  land  of  Nod  !  and  how  many  have  had  their 

*  See  p.  74. 


WOMAN    A   TYPE   OF   AFFECTION.  225 

faith  rescued  from  that  condition,  and  been  made  regenerate  ! 
thus  proving  its  position  to  have  been  towards  the  east  of  Eden, 
How  satisfactorily,  then,  does  experience  illustrate  the  state- 
ment ! 

Now  it  is  that  we  are  first  informed  of  the  wife  of  Cain. 
Before  this  there  is  no  mention  of  any  other  woman  being  in  the 
world  but  Eve;  although  it  is  plain,  from  the  series  of  things 
contemplated,  that  others  must  have  existed.  The  reason,  how- 
ever, why  they  are  not  noticed,  is  because  they  were  not  required 
for  the  representative  purpose  of  the  narration.  Nor  is  Cain's 
wife  now  mentioned  with  the  view  of  recording  the  existence  of 
a  woman,  but  to  signify  that  the  people  called  Cain  were  dis- 
tinguished l)y  an  affection  in  correspondence  with  the  state  of 
their  faith,  and  he  is  said  to  have  known  her,  to  express  the 
conjunction  and  confirmations  which  now  took  place  between 
the  fallacies  of  the  understanding  and  the  affections  of  the  will. 
The  faith  of  the  understanding  is  as  a  man,  and  the  correspond- 
ing affection  of  the  will  is  as  his  wife.  Cain  now  rendered  con- 
spicuous his  affection  for  the  heresy  into  which  he  had  fallen, 
and  this  is  called  his  wife.  That  term  is  well  known  to  express 
one  of  the  tenderest  attachments  of  humanity,  and,  as  such,  it 
is  sometimes  employed  in  the  Scriptures  to  denote,  in  a  spiritual 
sense,  the  affections  of  those  of  whom  it  is  predicated.  Affec- 
tion is  the  very  nature  of  woman,  and,  therefore,  it  is  easy  to 
see  the  propriety  of  selecting  her  to  be  its  living  symbol.  It  is 
on  this  account  that  the  Scriptures  invariably  represent  the 
Church  by  a  woman, — the  true  Church  under  those  terms  which 
express  her  most  amiable  condition,  such  as  a  virgin,  a  bride,  a 
wife,  and  mother;  but  the  false  Church  under  those  names 
which  denote  the  abandoned  portion  of  the  sex,  such  as  an  adul- 
teress and  a  harlot.  The  people  of  the  true  Church  have  an 
affection  for  God  and  their  neighbour;  the  people  of  the  per- 
verted Church  have  an  affection  for  themselves  and  the  world, 
so  that  their  affections  are  conjoined  to  their  opinions:  they  are 
united,  as  it  were,  in  the  bonds  of  a  spiritual  marriage;  and 
hence  has  originated  the  popular  remark  that  certain  persons 
who  are  strongly  attached  to  their  opinions  are  wedded  to 
them.  Such  had  now  become  the  case  with  the  people  called 
Cain.  The  false  persuasions  into  which  they  had  fallen  had 
17 


226  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

united  themselves  to  a  corresponding  affection,  and  the  result 
was,  the  concejjtion  and  birth  of  a  new  heresy,  called  Enoch.* 

Cain,  as  it  has  been  seen,  were  a  people  with  whom  arose  the 
first  heresy  in  the  Adamic  Church ;  and  they,  in  process  of  time, 
having  added  to  their  number,  separated  from  their  original 
parents,  and  constituted  a  sect.  They  also,  in  their  turn, 
became  the  parents  of  other  schisms,  of  which  Enoc^h  was  the 
first.  Heresies  are  communicated  from  mind  to  mind;  and  at 
last  they  are  found  to  acquire  some  definite  form,  through  the 
open  espousal  of  them  by  the  people.  Wherever  one  exists,  it 
is  sure,  in  the  process  of  time,  to  beget  another;  and  these  are 
spoken  of  in  the  antediluvian  history  under  the  form  of  a  gene- 
alogy of  sons  and  daughters;  of  sons,  in  reference  to  the  birth 
of  persuasions  and  opinions;  and  of  daughters,  in  respect  to  the 
manifestation  of  aft'ections  and  delights. 

Heresies  are  productive  things.  Like  weeds,  they  grow 
apace.  No  ordinary'  vigilance  can  hinder  their  propagation. 
The  reason  is,  because  falsehood  is  congenial  to  a  corrupted 
heart.  He  who  tells  a  falsehood  will  give  utterance  to  many 
more,  to  maintain  consistency  for  the  first,  and  each  assertion 
will  require  a  similar  process:  how  prolific  is  a  lie  !  It  is  upon 
these  general  grounds  that  we  find  the  birth  of  Enoch  is 
described  to  have  been  succeeded  by  other  births  descending 
from  him.  Thus,  "  Unto  Enoch  was  born  Irad:  and  Irad  begat 
Mehujael:  and  Mehujael  begat  Methusael:  and  Methusael  begat 
Lamech,"  &c.f  There  is  no  consistency  in  error.  It  has  none 
of  the  elements  of  unity;  it  has  no  steadiness  of  purpose;  it  is  a 
vagabond  principle,  aiming  at  division;  and  whenever  it  once 
obtains  admission  into  the  Church,  it  will  be  found  to  spread 
itself  in  various  forms,  and  separate  the  people  into  different 
communities.  The  several  names  which  immediately  follow 
those  of  Enoch,  and  who  are  all  stated  to  have  descended  from 
Cain,  were  intended  to  express  the  several  heresies  by  Avhich  the 
Church  at  that  time  was  torn  and  broken  up,  until  at  last  faith 

*The  Rev.  J.  Hewlett  says  "  that  there  were  an  ancient  people,  called  by 
Pliu3%  Heniochii  ;  by  Mela,  Eniochi  ;  and  by  Lucan,  Enochii  ;  some  of 
whom  lived  so  far  eastward,  that  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  fancies  they  might  have 
been  the  posterity  of  this  people  ! !  "     How  were  they  saved  from  the  flood  ? 

t  Gen.  iv.  18. 


FAITH    DESTROYED    BY    LAMECH.  227 

perished  at  the  hands  of  Laviech,  as  charity  had  previously  done 
by  the  hands  of  Cain.  By  the  name  Lamech  is  denoted  what 
is  poor  and  stricken:  and,  considered  as  the  designation  of  an 
heretical  sect,  it  signifies  what  is  low  and  base;  consequently,  a 
condition  of  the  Church  in  which  vastation^  was  experienced: 
hence  he  is  represented  to  have  said,  "  I  have  slain  a  man  to  my 
wounding,  and  a  young  man  to  my  hurt.  If  Cain  shall  be 
avenged   sevenfold,    truly    Lamech    seventy   and   sevenfold,  "f 

*  A  church  rasfafcd  is  such  that  it  knows  what  is  true,  but  is  not  disposed 
either  to  understand  or  to  love  it. 

t  Qen.  iv.  23,  24.  The  literal  sense  of  this  speech  of  Lamech,  introduced 
as  it  is  with  so  much  abruptness,  has  always  been  considered  a  very  difficult 
point  in  this  history.  Most  commentators  think  that  it  is  vain  to  conjecture 
vrhat  was  the  particular  occasion  which  gave  rise  to  it.  Considerable  inge- 
nuity, and  some  straining  of  the  original  text,  have  been  resorted  to,  in  order 
to  make  it  indicate  some  intelligible  story.  Tlius,  Hobigant,  whose  view  is 
countenanced  by  Dr.  Lowth,  translates  the  first  part  of  the  verse,  "  I  being 
wounded  have  slain  a  man  ;  "  and  so  considers  the  speech  to  be  an  apology 
for  committing  homicide  in  his  own  defence.  The  words  Le-petzatuji  and 
Le  chaburathi,  to  my  wound,  and  to  my  hurt,  are  paraphrased  to  mean, 
because  of  the  wound,  and  because  of  the  hurt  which  I  received.  Our  ver- 
sion, in  the  second  part  of  the  verse,  speaks  of  his  having  slain  a  young  man, 
but  the  original  of  that  denotes  a  child.  It  is  difficult  to  see  how  such  a 
one  could  inflict  or  threaten  an  injury,  which  demanded  such  a  vengeance. 
Others,  supposing  the  circumstance  spoken  of  to  have  been  very  close  upon 
the  invention  of  edged  tools  by  Tubal  caiu,  have  concluded  that  Lamech  had 
become  blind,  and  using  one  of  these  tools,  in  ignorance  of  its  power,  com- 
mitted homicide  on  one  of  his  sons,  and  that  his  address  was  to  claim  the 
forbearance  of  his  wives  !  These,  with  other  criticisms  which  could  be  pro- 
duced, have  hindered  the  generality  of  .scholars  from  adopting  the  above  view 
of  tiie  subject.  Dr. .Shuckford  resists  it  with  an  opposite  opinion.  He  thought 
that  the  family  of  Cain  were  fearful  lest  other  branches  of  tlie  descendants 
of  Adam  should  avenge  on  them  the  murder  committeii  by  their  ancestor. 
He  conceived  Adah  and  Zillah  to  have  been  specially  haunted  by  this  fear 
in  respect  to  Lamech,  their  husband,  and  that  he  made  the  speech  to  them 
to  show  that  their  fears  were  groundless: — that,  as  God  has  pronounced  a 
sevenfold  vengeance  on  any  who  should  slay  Cain,  who  had  been  really 
guilty.  He  would  certainly  inflict  a  much  greater  punishment  on  any  who 
should  injure  them,  who  were  entirely  innocent  of  Cain's  enormity;  and 
that,  therefore,  there  were  no  grounds  for  any  such  alarm  as  is  supposed  to 
have  existed,  and  to  have  originated  the  speech.  Hence  the  Doctor  read  it 
interrogatively,  "Have  I  slain  a  man  to  my  wounding,  or  a  young  man  to 
my  hurt?"  and  this  he  paraphrases  to  mean,  "  I  have  not  killed  a  man  that 
I  should  be  wounded,  nor  a  young  man  that  I  should  be  hurt. "     Thus,  two 


228  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

Every  one,  who  is  so  disposed,  nmy  perceive  the  similarity 
between  the  two  cases  of  Cain  and  Lameeh.  Both  are  contem- 
plated to  have  done  violence  to  human  life.  Cain's  act,  as  we 
have  frequently  observed,  denotes  his  destruction  of  charity; 
but  Lameeh' s  signifies  his  destruction  of  faith,  and  also  of  the 
good  that  had  been  associated  with  it;  for  he  not  only  slew  a 
man  to  his  wounding,  but  likewise  a  young  man  to  his  hurt. 
He  perpetrated  a  double  homicide;  the  former  brought  desola- 
tion on  the  things  of  faith,  and  so  inflicted  a  icoiind  upon  his 
understanding;  the  latter  induced  desolation  on  the  things  of 
good,  and  so  produced  a  hurt  upon  his  will,  which  circum- 
stances resulted  in  the  complete  devastation  of  the  Church. 
Thus,  they  not  only  suffered  the  sevenfold  vengeance,  Avhich  it 
was  predicted  should  come  upon  those  who  slew  Cain,  but  also 
the  utter  rejection  and  condemnation  implied  in  the  seventy 
and  sevenfold. 

We  need  not  go  farther  into  those  details:  it  is  a  clear  fact, 
that  faith  must  perish  when  there  is  no  charity  to  cherish  and 
uphold  its  use.  How  can  the  evil  long  believe  ?  The}^  have  no 
proper  motive,  either  to  extend  or  to  preserve  the  knowledge  of 
truth  about  spiritual  things:  such  truths  will  exhibit  to  them 
their  own  moral  deformity,  and,  therefore,  they  shun  them  to 
avoid  a  discovery  of  the  hideousness  of  their  own  characters. 
With  such,  one  truth  of  religion  perishes  after  another;  at  last 
they  all  drop  out  of  the  mind,  and  faith  becomes  extinct. 
Experience  proves  this  to  be  true  of  individuals;   and  reason 

dignitaries  in  the  same  Church  furnish  two  essentially  ditferent  interpreta- 
tions of  the  same  text  ;  both,  however,  are  compelled  to  add  to,  and  para- 
phrase, the  sense  expressed  in  tlie  original,  in  order  to  make  it  harmonize 
with  their  respective  opinions.  Others  have  thought  that  Lameeh  was 
apprehensive  of  danger  for  having  two  wives,  which  being  the  first  recorded 
instance  of  polygamy,  may  also  have  been  the  first  case  that  had  occurred, 
and  that,  by  his  having  thus  violated  the  institution  of  marriage,  he  had 
incurred  the  resentment  of  his  kindred,  and,  consequently,  that  his  speech  is 
the  announcement  of  his  having  retaliated  their  insults!  However  these  things 
might  have  been,  we  do  not  think  there  is  any  good  reason  for  supposing 
them  to  have  been  contemplated  in  the  narrative  before  us.  The  sense  of 
the  original  is  very  fairly  given  in  the  authorized  version  of  it,  and  it  is  con- 
structed with  the  view  of  setting  forth  the  spiritual  ideas  indicated  above, 
rather  than  to  record  any  such  natural  occurrences  as  these  views  seem  to 
express. 


THE    BIRTH    OF    HERESIES.  229 

shows  that  it  is  equally  correct   in   respect   to    communities, 
whenever  heresies  obtain  admission  among  them:  they  lead  to 
divisions,    and  to   the  destruction  of   fraternity.     When   men 
extinguish  charity,  the  uniting  principle  is  gone,  and,  however 
true  might  have  been  the  propositions  of  faith  in  the  beginning 
of  the  disruption,  they  are  sure  to  be  attenuated  and  corrupted 
by  the  self-derived  intelligence  of  men,    and    so  will   perish. 
The  genuine  truths  of  faith  cannot  be  maintained  among  any 
people  who  have  renoiyiced  the  life  of  charity.     They  have  no 
congenial  state  into  which  such  principles  can  flow  and  live. 
In  such  cases  men  cease  to  view  truth  through  the  soft  and 
subduing  influences  of  love:  they  originate  notions  and  oi)inions 
of  their  own,  and  so  prefer  their  own  thinking  to  God's  teaching. 
This  state  of  things  becomes  more  and  more  enormous,  until 
faith  itself  perishes  amidst  the  general  corruption.     This  was 
the  condition  of  the  Church  among  that  branch  of  the  ante- 
diluvian heresies  called  Lamech.     It  Avas  the  condition  of  all 
the  Churches  of  which  the  Scriptures  speak  as  having  come  to 
an  end.     The  Jewish  Church  perished,  because  the  people  had 
no  true  faith  in  the  Word  of  God,  but  instead  thereof  substituted 
the  traditions  of  the  elders.     It  was,  in  consequence  of  its  impuri- 
ties and  selfishness,  broken  up  into  sects,  of  which  the  Pharisees 
and  Sadducees  were  the  most  conspicuous.     The  Essenes  *  and 
Herodians  were  others  of   inferior   importance;    all,   however, 
partaking  of  the  same  common  depravity:  they  had  no  faith  in 
the  teachings  and   predictions  of  the  Divine  Scriptures;  they 
had  perverted  the  meaning  of  the  prophecies,  which  declared 
the  nature, 'manner,  and  objects  of  the  Messiah's  coming,  and 
hence  they  slew  him  when  he  came.     The  like  destitution  of 
faith  is  to  be  a  characteristic  with  the  people  of  the  Church  at 
the  period  of  the  Lord's  second  coming;  wherefore  he  inquired, 
"When  the  Son  of  man  cometh,   shall  he  find  faith  on  the 
earth  ?  f     It  is  easy,  then,  to  see  how  it  was  that  faith  perished 
in   the   posterity  of   Cain,    by    whom    charity   had   been    first 
extinguished. 

*  The  name  of  this  sect  does  not  occur  in  the  Scriptures,  but  their  man- 
ners, rites,  and  doctrines  are  described  by  Josephus.  Antiq.  xiii.  v.  9,  and 
xviii.  i.  5. 

t  Luke  xviii.  8. 


230  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

The  people  originated  notions  of  religion  whieli  had  no  higher 
authority  than  their  own  speculations,  and  which  were  set  up 
for  the  gratification  of  themselves  and  the  adoption  of  others. 
Those  others  did  not  long  see  them  in  the  same  light,  and 
therefore  they  produced  new  ones  themselves;  so  that  "Cain 
begat  Enoch,  and  Enoch  begat  Irad,  and  Irad  begat  ]\Iehujael, 
and  Mehujael  begat  Methusael,  and  Methusael  begat  Lamech." 
Similar  genealogical  successions  of  heresies  could  easily  be 
pointed  out  as  having  taken  place  during  the  history  of  the 
Christian  Church;  but  on  these  we  cannot  enter  now.  The 
people  of  those  ancient  times  divided  to  rule;  and  acting  upon 
this  maxim  of  the  father  of  lies  led  to  the  begetting  of  Lamech, 
with  whom  the  principle  of  faith  and  all  the  little  remaining 
love  of  goodness  perished;  wherefore  he  is  declared  to  have  slain 
a  man  to  his  wounding,  and  a  young  man  [i.  e.,  in  Hebrew,  a 
child]  to  his  hurt. 

How  terrible  are  the  consequences  of  heresies  in  the  Church! 
How  injurious  are  they  to  the  common  weal  of  man!  What 
hindrances  do  they  oppose  to  human  progress!  How  success- 
fully do  they  weaken  and  break  up  all  the  ties  of  spiritual 
affection!  What  fallacies  have  they  forged  to  restrain  the 
freedom  of  human  thought!  The  vain  imaginations  of  per- 
verted minds,  having  let  loose  the  activities  of  a  corrupted 
heart  upon  society,  brought  in  disaster  and  dismay  upon  the 
Church.  From  these  considerations  we  learn  that  Enoch  was 
the  first  heresy  which  Cain  begat.  Of  the  nature  of  it  we  are 
not  informed:  the  narrative  merely  states  that  he  was  born  and 
begat  Irad,  and  then  we  read  no  more  about  him.  He  was  not 
the  Enoch  who  is  described  to  have  walked  with  God,  and  who 
the  Apostle  tells  us  was  translated  that  he  should  not  see  death.* 
This  Enoch  was  not  a  descendant  of  Cain  at  all:  he  was  the 
offspring  of  Jared  from  the  line  of  Seth,  who  is  spoken  of  as 
Adam's  third  son.  This  race  Avas  altogetlier  of  another  quality 
to  that  of  Cain.  There  was  also  a  Lamech  from  the  same  race.f 
It  is  requisite  to  notice  these  circumstances,  in  order  to  prevent 
a  confusion  which  might  otherwise  take  place  from  the  identity 
of  the  names.  Schismatic  churches  possess  the  true  names  of 
things  that  liave  to  be  believed;    l)ut  then  they  attach  false 

*  Gen.  V.  22  ;  Heb.  xi.  5.  f  Gen.  v.  25. 


CITY,    THE    REPRESENTATIVE    OF    DOCTRINE.  231 

notions  to  them.  The  thing  is  not  to  be  judged  of  merely  by 
the  name:  the  name  must  be  examined  and  explained  to  be 
understood.  There  are  certain  sections  in  the  Christian  Church, 
which  retain  common  names  for  the  doctrines  they  profess,  yet 
they  believe  very  differently  concerning  them.  Thus  the  God- 
head, atonement,  mediation,  faith,  and  some  others,  are  general 
names  received  by  all;  but  men  differ  very  widely  in  the  ideas 
which  are  attached  to  them:  so  that  false  ideas  in  the  Church 
are  expressed  by  the  same  names  as  those  that  are  true:  there- 
fore we  need  not  be  surprised  at  finding  that  there  was  an  Enoch 
who  was  a  heretic,  as  avcII  as  an  Enoch  who  walked  with  God. 
Concerning  this  latter  Enoch  we  shall  have  occasion  to  speak 
again. 

These  remarks  bring  us  to  consider  what  is  meant  by  the 
circumstance  of  Cain  building  a  city,  and  calling  it  after  the 
name  of  his  son.*  That  a  community  influenced  by  certain 
prejudices  and  opinions  should  separate  themselves  from  their 
brethren,  and  emigrate  to  some  other  locality,  with  the  view  of 
building  a  town  for  their  future  residence,  may  be  easily  con- 
ceived. Modern  history  furnishes  examples  of  a  similar  char- 
acter. Nevertheless  Ave  do  not  conceive  this  to  have  been  meant 
by  the  narrative  before  us:  a  fact  of  this  nature  may  have 
suggested  the  employment  of  such  a  history  as  the  suitable 
l>asis  for  denoting  some  spiritual  circumstance,  without  intending 
thereby  to  express  what  appears  upon  the  letter.  But  Avithout 
dwelling  upon  this  point,  it  is  i)lain,  from  the  series  of  things 
treated  of,  that  by  the  city  Avhich  Cain  is  said  to  have  built,  is 
to  be  understood  the  preparation  of  something  for  the  njind  to 
dAvell  in,  rather  than  erections  for  the  residence  of  the  body. 

By  a  city,  in  a  spiritual  sense,  is  meant  the  doctrinal  vicAvs  of 
religion  Avhich  are  entertained  by  the  persons  of  Avhom  it  is  pre- 

*  It  is  curious  to  observe  the  oversights  into  which  comnieutators  are 
sometimes  led.  Ptolemy  is  said  to  mention  a  city  Anuehtha,  in  Susiaua,  or 
Khuzestaii,  a  country  lying  eastward  from  Chaldea  ;  this  the  learned  Huet 
believed  to  be  the  same  city,  under  a  Chaldean  name,  as  Hanakh  or  Enoch, 
built  by  Cain.  See  "  Univ.  Hist.,^^  vol  i.,  p.  151.  But  surely  it  must  occur 
to  the  most  superficial  thinker  to  inquire,  how  a  city  built  before  the  flood 
should  have  remained  after  it,  if  all  things  perished  in  that  catastrophe,  with 
the  exception  of  Noah  and  his  family,  as  was  believed  by  Huet,  and  the 
writers  of  the  "  Universal  History  "  ? 


232  THE    WORD   AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

dicated.  Men  live  in  their  opinions:  they  are,  as  it  were,  the 
houses  in  which  their  affections  dwell,  and  a  number  of  opinions 
constitutes  a  spiritual  city :  "  a  city  of  lioliness,"  if  the  opinions 
be  doctrinally  true,  but  "a  city  of  destruction,"  if  they  be 
heretical  and  false.  Men  who  believe  what  is  true,  and  live 
therein,  are  contemplated  as  dwelling  in  the  "city  of  God." 
Solomon  wrote,  that  "the  rich  man's  wealth  is  his  strong 
city,"  *  because  a  rich  man  is  one  who  knows  truth;  and  this 
spiritual  wealth  is  a  strong  city.  The  cities  of  refuge  f  ap- 
pointed under  the  Mosaic  dispensation,  for  the  protection  of 
those  who  unintentionally  did  injury  to  another,  represented 
the  doctrinal  truths  of  religion  to  which  those  are  to  flee,  who, 
through  ignorance,  may  have  done  some  harm  to  society.  Such 
truths  both  teach  and  protect  those  who  adopt  them  with  a  view 
to  life  and  safety.  The  cities  of  Judah  so  frequently  mentioned 
in  the  Word,  and  others,  considered  to  have  been  the  cities  of 
Israel,  likewise  rei^resented  the  doctrinal  truths  of  the  Church: 
the  former,  those  truths  which  relate  to  our  duty  to  God;  and 
the  latter,  those  which  treat  of  our  duty  to  man.  The  "city  of 
habitation  "J  signifies  the  doctrines  of  the  Church,  which  teach 
men  the  way  to  live  for  heaven;  "the  cities  without  inhabi- 
tants "  §  denote  doctrinal  truths  without  their  corresponding 
goodness. 

Cities  naturally  are  such  by  virtue  of  the  people  who  inhabit 
them,  and  thence  they  are  found  to  possess  certain  characteris- 
tics of  their  own.  Every  one  may  be  acquainted  with  this  fact 
who  knows  how  to  observe  men  and  things.  How  frequently 
do  we  hear  those  residences  of  men  spoken  of  under  some  cog- 
nomen intended  to  express  their  general  feature  !  Some  are 
said  to  be  commercial^  some  mcinnfacturing,  some  low,  some 
proud,  some  ignorant,  some  learned,  some  industrious,  some  idle. 
In  short,  the  idiosyncrasies  of  cities  differ  as  much  as  the  indi- 
vidualities of  men:  they  acquire  a  distinctiveness  from  the 
principles  which  influence  them:  for  a  city  is,  as  it  were,  a 
man,  a  larger  man  than  the  individual,  nevertheless  a  man  as 
to  all  his  moral  activities  and  intellectual  operations;  so  that  a 
city,    as  a  collection   of    men,  actually  exhibits  the   doctrinal 

*  Prov.  X.  15  t  Numb.  xxxv.  6-12. 

X  I'sa.  cvii.  7.  'i  Lsa.  vi.  11. 


SIGNIFICATION    OF    A    CITY    ILLUSTRATED.  233 

views  and  sentiments  which  may  have  contributed  to  the  pro- 
duction of  the  cognomen  by  which  it  is  known.  This  may 
serve  to  illustrate  the  circumstance  of  cities  being  mentioned  in 
the  Scriptures  to  represent  the  doctrinal  opinions  of  the  people 
of  whom  they  are  predicated;  and  why,  also,  certain  appella- 
tions are  sometimes  applied  to  them.  Jerusalem  is  said  to  be 
"  builded  as  a  city  that  is  compact  together,"  *  to  express  the 
unity  and  solidity  of  those  doctrinal  truths  of  the  Church  of 
which  it  is  the  type:  hence  also  it  is  called  the  "  heavenly  Jeru- 
salem," t  and  described  as  the  holy  city  coming  down  from  God 
out  of  heaven.  I  It  is  not  a  natural  city  of  men  and  houses 
which  is  to  come  down,  but  a  disclosure  of  the  doctrinal  truths 
of  the  "W'ord:  these  come  down  from  heaven  to  guide  men 
thither:  and  the  Lord  said,  "  A  city  that  is  set  on  a  hill  cannot 
be  hid, "  §  to  teach  us  that  the  doctrines  of  truth,  when 
grounded  on  the  elevated  principles  of  love,  wall  always  be 
conspicuous  for  their  brightness  and  their  beauty. 

Thus  it  is  plain  that  by  a  city  is  denoted  doctrinal  things. 
Let  us  then  apply  this  signification  to  that  which  Cain  is  said 
to  have  built.  It  wall  at  once  occur  to  the  reflecting,  when 
they  remember  the  series  of  spiritual  things  treated  of,  that  this 
circumstance  was  intended  to  represent  the  people  collecting 
together  the  various  materials  on  which  they  had  grounded 
their  heretical  opinions,  and  thereupon  arranging  and  construct- 
ing them  into  a  doctrinal  foi-m  for  their  future  use.  This  idea 
may  be  illustrated  by  many  circumstances  wdiich  have  taken 
place  in  the  Christian  Church.  This  has  been  broken  up  into 
numerous  sects,  some  of  which  have  stood  in  the  relation  of 
parents  to  others.  It  was  predicted  that  one  w'ould  be  "the 
mother  of  harlots."  ||  The  state  of  the  people  during  the  de- 
cline of  all  Churches  is  pretty  much  the  same:  they  corrupt  the 
truth  and  build  other  sentiments,  which  they  attempt  to  fortify 
by  inventions  of  their  own.  For  example,  let  us  take  the  doc- 
trines of  Predestination  and  Grace. ^     Whatever  truths  might 

*  Psa.  cxxii.  3.  t  Heb.  xii.  22.  t  Rev.  xxi.  2. 

§  Matt.  V.  14.  II  Rev.  xvii.  5. 

^  The  correct  idea  of  Predestination  is,  that  God  "  created  every  one  for 
His  glory,"  Isa.  xliii.  7  ;  that  is,  for  the  enjoyment  of  His  blessings,  so  far 
as  they  comply  with  the  means  placed  within  their  power.  Grace  is  the 
Divine  mercy  which  saves  mankind  according  to  appointed  means. 


234  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

have  been  originally  expressed  by  those  terms,  it  is  quite  evident 
that,  in  the  process  of  time,  they  became  entirely  perverted, 
and  that  errors  were  substituted  for  them.  A  controvers}'  con- 
cerning them  was  begun  in  the  ninth  century  (they  had  then 
existed  about  four  hundred  years)  by  the  Saxon,  Godoschal- 
chus,  and  it  was  continued  with  more  or  less  severity  for  a 
period  of  seven  hundred  years.  During  all  this  time  the  people 
were  wandering  in  their  faith  concerning  these  things.  They 
had  no  settled  convictions  upon  the  subjects  which  those  terms 
were  intended  to  express;  but  in  the  sixteenth  century  a  new 
champion  arose,  who,  with  the  materials  of  this  controversy, 
constructed  as  it  were  a  new  city,  which  has  not  been  called 
after  the  name  of  those  who  founded  it,  but  after  Qih-in,  their 
son  in  the  faith.*  The  case  of  Cain  building  a  city,  and  call- 
ing its  name  Enocli,  was  something  similar  to  this. 

It  will  be  recollected  that  those  people  had  become  fugitive 
and  vagabond  in  reference  to  the  things  of  faith.  Their  notions 
about  spiritual  and  holy  things  had  no  coherence  with  each 
other,  because  they  had  departed  from  the  face  of  the  Lord, 
from  whom  alone  all  excellence  and  consistency  descend;  and 
therefore  they  are  described  to  have  dwelt  in  the  land  of  Nod, 
which  is  a  state  of  wandering  and  uncertainty  about  the  princi- 
ples of  faith.  Now,  to  secure  the  credibility  and  adherence  of 
the  people,  it  became  requisite  to  re-examine  the  sentiments 
which  had  led  to  the  production  of  such  unsteadiness  of  life 
and  opinions;  to  cast  away  all  those  notions  which  had  fastened 
themselves  as  excrescences  upon  their  general  principles;  and  so 
to  re-arrange  and  construct  the  whole  of  their  doctrinal  views 
of  religion,  that  they  might  appear  as  a  new  and  more  compact 
city.  Thus  the  description  of  Cain  building  a  city  and  calling 
it  Enoch,  i.  e. ,  instruction,  was  intended  to  represent  those  who 
held  the  heresy  of  Cain,  striving  to  render  it  attractive.  In  our 
own  day  we  speak  of  attractive  si)eculations  as  "castle  build- 
ing." Surely,  then,  we  need  not  wonder  at  its  being  said,  by 
those  among  whom  figurative  language  was  so  i)revalent,  that 
the  construction  or  arrangement  of  certain  doctrinal  views  of 
religion  was  the  building  of  a  city.  We  speak  also  of  building 
up  an  opinion,  and  of  fortifying  our  sentiments;  and  to  describe 

*  See  Mosheim,  cent,  v.,  sec.  23  ;  ceut.  ix.,  sec.  22  ;  cent,  xvi.,  sec.  13. 


SIGNIFICATION    OF    A    CITY    ILLUSTRATED.  235 

the  confidence  of  some  men  in  the  notions  they  entertain,  it  is 
sometimes  said  of  them,  that  it  is  the  city  in  which  they  dwell. 

"NMien,  tlierefore,  we  see  that  by  Enoch,  as  the  descendant  of 
Cain,  was  denoted  the  origination  of  a  new  heresy,  it  is  easy  to 
perceive,  from  these  reasonings,  facts,  and  illustrations,  that  the 
building  of  a  city,  and  calling  it  Enoch, — instruction, — were 
intended  to  represent  the  erection  and  building,  in  an  attractive 
form,  of  certain  doctrinal  notions  of  religious  things  for  the 
reception  and  faith  of  that  people.  The  teachers  of  truth  are 
the  builders  of  the  city  of  God;  they,  by  the  divine  assistance, 
erect  the  walls  of  Jerusalem,  and  cause  her  to  be  a  praise  in  the 
earth;  whereas  the  teachers  of  eri'or  are  the  builders  of  the  city 
of  destruction — the  architects  of  the  synagogue  of  Satan. 

These  circumstances,  together  with  the  errors  which  afterwards 
arose  from  that  of  Enoch,  and  especially  the  extinction  of  all 
faith  in  spiritual  things  produced  b}-  the  heresy  of  Lamech, 
terminate  this  liranch  of  Antediluvian  History.  We  read  no 
more  of  Cain:  nothing  further  of  his  life;  no  record  of  his  death 
is  preserved.  The  whole  narrative  concerning  him  concludes 
towards  the  end  of  the  fourth  chapter,  because,  as  we  have  seen, 
the  things  of  the  Church  were  ended  with  his  fifth  descendant, 
Lamech. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

THE  BIRTH  OF  SETH— THE  LONGEVITY  OF  HIS  DESCENDANTS— 
AND  THE  "TRANSLATION"  OF  ENOCH. 

"The  notion  of  a  man's  living  to  the  age  of  600  or  1,000  years  was  Egyptian. — 
How  is  this  reconcilable  with  their  precise  knowledge  of  a  solar  year,  and  with 
their  fixing  the  age  of  men,  one  with  another,  to  the  term  of  28  years? — This  has 
suggested  a  supposition,  that  by  600  or  1,000  years  in  question,  they  meant  the 
duration  of  a  trihe  or  dynanty,  distinguished  by  the  name  of  its  founder," — 
Webb's  "Patno.,"  p.  275. 

On  the  cessation  of  that  division  of  the  most  ancient  Church 
called  Cain,  we  are  informed  that  "  Adam  knew  his  wife  again; 
and  she  bare  a  son,  and  called  his  name  Seth:  For  God,  said 
she,  hath  appointed  me  another  seed  instead  of  Abel,  whom 
Cain  slew."*  Now  as  Abel  represented  the  principle  of  charity, 
which  had  been  regarded  by  an  earlier  people  of  the  most 
ancient  Church  to  be  the  chief  thing  of  religion,  and  as  Seth  was 
appointed  as  seed  in  his  place,  we  reach  the  fact  at  once,  that 
Seth  represented  a  principle  of  faith  out  of  which  charity  was 
to  be  developed;  and  consequently  that  it  was  given  by  God 
for  the  adoption  of  another  branch  of  the  Adamic  descendants. 
This  seems  evident  from  the  circumstance  of  its  being  said  of 
his  posterity,  that  they  began  to  call  upon  the  name  of  the 
Lord;  f  that  is,  to  worship  Him  from  a  principle  of  love  and 
charity.  The  state  of  charity  which  now  began  to  be  cultivated 
does  not  appear  to  have  been  precisely  of  the  same  exalted 
quality  as  that  Avhich  prevailed  with  Abel,  because,  in  its  com- 
munication, it  passed  through  another  medium.  With  Abel 
charity  entered  into  the  affections  by  a  more  internal  way  than 
with  the  posterity  of  Seth.  With  the  former  it  arose  out  of  an 
impulsive  love  which  is  an  internal  principle;  but  with  the 
latter  it  sprung  up  from  an  intellectual  dictate,  wliich  respect- 
ively was  an  external  principle.      But  this  merciful  provision 

*  Gen.  iv.  25.  f  Gen.  iv.  26. 

236 


OPINIONS    ON    LONGEVITY.  237 

for  the  development  and  security  of  charity  did  not  continue  in 
its  integrity,  for  we  are  immediately  informed  of  successive 
descendants,  each  of  Avhom  is  intended  to  express  some  change 
which  the  perceptions  of  truth  in  respect  to  charity  were  under- 
going among  them,  until  they  finally  ^Derished  among  a  people 
called  Lamech.  The  people  with  whom  that  faith  perished, 
which  had  its  commencement  with  Seth,  hore  the  same  name 
as  those  with  whom  ended  the  faith  which  had  hegun  with 
Cain.  They  were  distinct  races,  but  are  called  by  the  same 
names,  because  they  represented  princii)les  of  a  similar  char- 
acter, with  like  results.  From  these  considerations  it  is  plain 
that,  in  the  times  now  treated  of,  there  were  a  great  variety  of 
doctrines  and  sects  that  separated  from  the  Adamic  Church, 
each  of  which  was  distinguished  by  its  approi)riate  appellation; 
and  that,  owing  to  the  peculiar  genius  of  the  people,  their 
sentiments  and  heresies  must  have  been  exceedingly  subtle, 
fascinating,  and  dangerous,  much  more  so  than  any  which 
have  existed  in  after  times;  and  hence  it  is  that  the  people  pro- 
fessing them  are  described  to  have  perished  in  so  calamitous  a 
manner. 

Now  as  Seth  was  significant  of  a  new  faith,  and  consequently 
represented  the  people  to  whom  it  was  given,  and  by  whom  it 
was  embraced,  it  will  follow  that  all  Avho  are  described  to  have 
descended  from  him  in  the  genealogical  series,  are  the  appro- 
priate names  of  so  many  distinct  branches  and  separations 
from  the  faith  so  called.  This  circumstance  at  once  suggests 
an  idea  which  will  assist  in  explaining  in  some  measure  what 
is  meant  by  the  extraordinary  ages  of  those  who  are  usually 
called  the  Antediluvian  Patriarchs.  That  the  ages  of  mankind 
in  those  times  were  not  so  great, — some  of  them  amounting  to 
many  hundreds  of  years;  Jared  and  Methuselah  to  nearly  a 
thousand, — may  appear  obvious  to  those  who  will  venture  out 
of  that  track  of  thinking  on  this  subject  which  so  commonly 
prevails. 

Antediluvian  longevity  is  one  of  those  subjects  which  has 
been  felt  to  be  full  of  difficulties  in  most  ages  of  the  Church, 
whether  Jewish  or  Christian.  Josephus  abides  by  the  letter, 
and  cites  several  authors  of  Egyptian,  Chaldean,  and  Phcenician 


238  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

history,  to  show  "that  the  ancients  lived  a  thousand  years."  * 
They,  liowever,  prove  no  such  thing.  It  is  not-certain  that  those 
writers  alhide  to  the  ages  of  individual  men.  He  does  not 
produce  their  evidence,  and  it  is  highly  prol)able  that  they 
jefer  either  to  some  poetical  idea  or  to  dynastic  existence. 

Christian  commentators,  notwithstanding  considerable  inge- 
nuity has  been  displayed  upon  this  inquiry,  have  not  been  able 
to  offer  any  explanation  of  the. sul)ject.  Some,  indeed,  with  the 
view  of  reducing  the  duration  of  human  life  down  to  the 
standard  which  general  history  assures  us  was  its  common 
extent,  have  thought  that  lunar  years  are  meant,  f  But  this 
suggestion,  though  it  might  be  supposed  to  remove  some  of  the 
embarrassments,  is  found  to  create  others  equally  difficult.  It 
would  make  the  whole  period  from  Adam  to  Noah  only  aljout 
one  hundred  and  forty  solar  years,  and  many  of  these  Ante- 
diluvians must  have  l)een  parents  in  their  infancy.  According 
to  this  method  of  calculation,  Enoch  would  have  ])een  exactly 
five  years  old  when  he  became  the  father  of  Methuselah.  It  is 
plain,  therefore,  tliat  this  view  of  the  case  does  not  offer  the 
right  solution.  IMen  feel,  that  to  believe  in  such  extraordinary 
ages  is  a  large  draft  upon  their  credibility;  still  they  try  to 
persuade  themselves  into  the  idea.  Some  say  that  vegetable 
food,  I  and  the  purity  of  the  atmosphere  in  tliose  early  times  of 
the  world,   contributed  to   this  happy  result.     We  can  easily 

*  Joseph  us,  "Antiquities  of  the  Jews,"  book  1,  chap.  iii.  9. 

t  Plutarch  observes,  that  "  the  Egyptians  introduce  an  infinite  nuinlier  of 
years  into  their  genealogies,  because  they  reckon  months  for  years. "  Another 
author  (when  making  this  extract,  we  omitted  to  transcribe  his  name)  says 
that  "they  reckoned  the  years  by  the  inundations  of  the  Nile,  which  over- 
tlowed  twice  in  every  solar  year."  This  latter  view  would  reduce  the  ante- 
diluvian ages  one-half;  but  Me  have  not  met  with  any  writer  who  has 
ventured  to  adopt  this  speculation.  St.  Austin  (De  Civitat.  Dei,  lib.  xv., 
cap.  12)  mentions  that  some  ancient  writers  supposed  the  year  to  be  divided 
into  ten  parts,  and  that  each  ofthe.se  decimals  was  taken  for  one  year.  This 
of  course  would  reduce  these  extraordinary  ages  to  one-tentli  of  their  present 
amount ;  so  that  the  nine  hundred  and  sixty-nine  years  of  Methuselah  would 
be  ninety-six  years  and  nine  mouths. 

X  Beverovicus,  a  German  physician,  attributes  the  longevity  of  the  patri- 
archs' lives  to  their  feeding  upon  raw  fllesh  ! — Bev.  J.  Hetclett,  B.D. 


OPINIONS    ON    LON(iEVITY.  239 

conceive  that  siicli  circumstances  would  have  a  tendency  to 
maintain  the  health  and  j^rolong  the  life,  yet  it  is  not  always  so. 
Science  does  not  teach  us  that  a  superior  quality  of  food  pro- 
longs the  life  of  man  more  than  that  which  results  from  an 
inferior  ({uality,  j^rovided  it  be  wholesome.  The  poor,  whose 
diet  is  coarse,  supposing  they  have  enough,  live  as  long  as  the 
rich,  who  fare  sumptuously  every  day.  This  ol)jection  is 
answered  by  the  suggestion,  that  the  original  constitution  of 
men,  in  those  early  times,  was  more  robust  and  sound.  Of 
course,  all  this  is  mere  conjecture.  The  Scriptures  do  not 
furnish  us  with  such  reasons  for  the  supposed  results.  Some 
have  imagined  that  because  God  had  newly  formed  mankind, 
he  willed  that  they  should  be  long  livers;  and  that  this  circum- 
stance is  sufficient  to  account  for  such  extraordinary  duration 
of  human  life.*  We  must  close  the  argument  with  those  who 
would  refer  the  fact  in  dispute  to  God's  peculiar  will,  until  they 
have  produced  the  evidence  on  which  their  acquaintance  with 
that  will,  in  this  respect,  is  founded. 

Such  long  life  is  said  to  have  been  required  for  the  peopling 
of  the  earth.  This,  however,  is  a  mere  invention;  there  is  no 
Scriptural  statement  to  that  effect.  If  that  had  been  the  inten- 
tion of  such  longevity,  how  did  it  happen  that  some  were  so 
late  in  beginning  to  be  fathers  ?  Seth  was  one  hundred  and  five 
years  old  when  he  begat  his  first  son,  Enos;  f  and  Methuselah  was 
a  hundred  and  eighty-seven  before  he  begat  his  son  Lamech,]: 
who  is  mentioned  as  his  first  descendant.  Surely,  if  the  poj^ula- 
tion  of  the  earth  had  been  one  of  the  purposes  of  this  longevity, 
we  should  not  read  of  circumstances  which  indicate  delay. 

Some  have  supposed  that  those  ancient  people  were  peculiarly 
dear  to  God,  and  that  this  was  one  of  the  principal  causes  of 
their  remarkable  ages.  It  is  true  that  God  loves  his  creatures; 
and  it  is  equally  true  that  men  may  be  more  sensible  of  this 
love  in  one  age  than  another,  because  they  may,  by  greater 
obedience  to  his  laws,  be  distinguished  by  superior  virtues. 
But  it  is  not  true  that  God  ever  intended  that  the  number  of 
men's  years  should  measure  the  extent  of  his  love.      If  so,  the 

*  Josephus,  "Ant.,"  book  1,  chap.  iii.  4,  adopted  by  Dr.  D)dd. 

t  Gen.  V.  6.  J  Gen.  v.  25. 


240  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

death  of  infants  would  imply  that  he  did  not  love  them;  or,  if 
so,  it  is  so  little,  that  when  compared  with  that  bestowed  upon 
the  aged,  it  is  scarcely  to  be  mentioned.  We  see,  however,  that 
the  young  and  virtuous  are  frequently  cut  off  in  the  bloom  of 
their  hopes  and  the  prime  of  their  usefulness;  while  the  wicked 
are  not  unfrequently  permitted  to  continue  to  an  advanced  age 
in  a  profligate  career.  It  is  plain,  then,  that  those  passages  of 
Scripture  which  promise  length  of  days  as  the  result  of  right- 
eousness,* and  that  portion  of  the  Decalogue  Avhich  commands 
us  to  honour  our  father  and  mother,  that  our  days  may  be  long 
in  the  land,f  are  not  to  be  taken  as  promises  that  natural  life 
will  be  extended  by  the  observance  of  such  duties.  We  see 
persons  removed  every  day,  notwithstanding  the  excellence  of 
their  piety,  and  the  devotedness  of  their  attachment  to  their 
parents.  The  length  of  days  that  is  to  be  the  result  of  those 
virtues  will  consist  in  the  perpetuation  of  those  spiritual  states 
which  they  induce.  States  have  the  same  relation  to  the  soul 
of  man  that  days  have  to  his  body:  hence  days  are  significant 
of  states.  Every  new  state  in  the  life  of  religion  is  a  fresh  spir- 
itual day,  which  is  mercifully  prolonged  to  the  possessor  by  the 
beneficence  of  God.  The  land  which  He  giveth  us  is  the 
possession  of  some  enjoyment  in  His  own  kingdom;  and  the 
duties  of  filial  affection  are  among  the  means  by  which  it  is  to 
be  obtained. 

But  the  condition  of  goodness  among  the  antediluvians  con- 
tinually decreased,  and  that  which  was  preserved,  remained 
only  among  a  few;  the  great  mass  of  the  people  having  fallen 
into  those  general  corruptions  which  are  stated  to  have  occa- 
sioned the  deluge.  Their  longevity,  then,  supposing  it  to  have 
related  to  individual  men,  cannot,  with  any  consistency,  be 
interpreted  as  evidence  that  God  loved  them  better  than  the 
subsequent  generations  of  our  race.  And,  therefore,  another 
reason  sometimes  put  forth  to  account  for  the  supposed  great 
ages  of  those  people — namely,  to  afford  them  opportunities  for 
obtaining  high  degrees  of  spiritual  and  intellectual  excellence — 
must  fall  to  the  ground.  It  did  not  answer  the  supposed  pur- 
pose. They  did  not  attain  those  virtues.  They  appear  to  have 
been  worse  in  their  age  than  in  their  youth,  or  the  catastrophe 

*  Ps;i.  xxi.  4  ;  Ixi.  5,  6.  f  Exod.  xx.  12. 


man's  days  a  hundred  and  twenty  years.  241 

in  which  they  were  finally  overwhelmed  Avould  not  have 
occurred. 

That  those  ages  were  not  intended  to  be  expressed  of  individ- 
ual men  is  farther  evident  from  the  third  verse  of  the  sixth 
chapter  of  Genesis,  where  it  is  written,  "The  Lord  said,  My 
spirit  shall  not  always  strive  with  man,  for  that  he  also  is  flesh: 
yet  his  days  shall  be  a  hundred  and  twenty  years."  Here 
some  arcana  apart  from  what  is  mentioned  in  the  literal  sense 
are  plainly  meant,  for  the  statement  of  man  living  a  hundred 
and  twenty  years  has  no  literal  connection  with  what  precedes, 
nor  had  it  any  general  realization  in  the  history  which  follows. 
Noah  lived  three  hundred  and  fifty  years  after  the  flood.* 
Shem,  his  son,  lived  five'liundred  years  after  he  begat  Arphaxad; 
Arphaxad  lived  four  hundred  and  three  years  after  he  begat 
Salah;  and  Salah  lived,  after  he  begat  Eber,  four  hundred  and 
three  years;  and  Eber,  after  he  begat  Peleg,  four  hundred  and 
thirty  years,  f  From  these  facts  it  is  jjlain  that  the  declaration, 
"yet  his  days  shall  be  a  hundred  and  twenty  years,"  could  not 
have  been  intended  to  predict  what  should  be  the  period  of 
human  life  in  the  world. 

It  is  indeed  thought  that  this  remarkable  passage  was  designed 
to  express  the  time  which  should  elapse  between  the  date  of  its 
utterance  and  that  of  the  flood;  and  thus,  that  it  was  the  period 
of  respite  which  God  granted  to  the  people  for  repentance,  before 
the  execution  of  that  calamity.  X  But  this  view  of  the  case,  to 
be  reasonable,  should  agree  with  the  Scripture  chronology, 
which  it  does  not !     Noah  was  five  hundred  years  old  when  he 

*  Gen.  ix.  28. 

t  Gen.  xi.  11-17.  Hesiod,  speaking  of  the  golden  age,  says,  "The  grow- 
ing cliild  was  nursed  an  hundred  jears  by  his  careful  mother,  very  infantine 
in  his  home." — "  Weeks  and  Z>rtys,"  v.  126.  The  longevity  here  implied, 
like  the  period  to  which  it  is  assigned,  is  doubtless  a  poetic  statement,  and 
not  a  literal  circumstance  ;  and  therefore  it  is  no  collateral  evidence  of  the 
personal  longevity  which  Sharon  Turner,  in  his  "Sacred  History  of  the 
World,"  has  supposed  it  to  be. 

I  Dr.  Geddes  reads  the  whole  passage  thus:  —  "  I  will  never  unawares  pro- 
nounce or  execute   judgment  on  mankind.     They   shall  not   be   punished 
without  a  warning  ;  they  are  but  frail  flesh,  and  shall  have  one  hundred  and 
twenty  years  given  them  to  repent  and  amend  their  lives." 
18 


242  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

begat  Sheni,  Ham,  and  Japheth.*  It  was  a  considerable  period 
after  this  before  the  supposed  respite  was  uttered;  yet  it  was 
"in  the  six  hundredth  year  of  Noah's  life  that  the  fountains  of 
the  great  deep  were  broken  up;"t  so  that  no  such  period  did 
elapse  as  the  passage  is  supposed  to  promise;  and,  therefore,  it 
cannot  be  the  correct  view  of  the  subject. 

The  fact  is,  that  those  days  which  were  to  be  a  hundred  and 
twenty  years,  were  not  intended  to  refer  to  the  duration  of 
natural  life  at  all;  but  those  numbers  are  made  use  of  because, 
according  to  the  ecclesiastical  computation  of  those  early  times, 
they  signify  the  lowest  condition  -of  spiritual  life  that  could 
remain  with  man,  and  which  is  afterwards  so  frequently  called 
a  remnant,  out  of  which  a  new  dispensation  of  religious  truth 
and  goodness  was  always  to  be  raised,  when  the  corruption  of  a 
former  one  should  bring  it  to  its  end.  When  a  church  has  so 
far  declined  that  its  principles  of  faith  and  action  have  been 
rejected  by  the  general  mass  of  the  people,  then  a  new  dispensa- 
tion has  always  been  raised  up  by  the  special  interposition  of 
the  Divine  Providence.  This  we  find  was  the  case  with  the 
antediluvians.  They  continually  decreased  in  their  attachment 
to  the  good  and  excellent  things  of  religion,  until  they  were 
found  to  remain  only  among  a  few,  when  a  new  church  Avas 
raised  up  under  the  name  of  Noah.  A  similar  falling  away  dis- 
tinguished the  Noachic  dispensation;  and  when  it  was  dispersed, 
at  the  building  of  Babel,  another  new  church  was  begun  Avith 
Abraham  and  his  descendants,  who  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose 
were  among  the  best  of  those  that  remained  of  the  preceding 
dispensation.  The  Jewish  Church  continued,  with  various  vicis- 
situdes, until  the  fulness  of  time  arrived,  which  was  the  com- 
pletion of  its  corruptions;  and  then  it  was  made  to  pass  away, 
as  to  all  the  vitality  that  had  ever  belonged  to  it,  by  the  mani- 
festation of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  by  whom  another  new  church, 
called  the  Christian,  was  begun.  In  all  these  cases  the  com- 
mencement of  the  new  was  effected  through  the  instrumentality 
of  those  persons  in  whom  any  good  of  the  old  yet  remained.  It 
is  this  peculiar  circumstance,  Avhich  has  been  verified  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  decline  and  establishment  of  churches,  that  is  de- 
signed to  be  represented  by  the  words,  "  His  days  shall  be  a 
*Gen.  V.  32.  t  Gen.  vii.  11. 


SPIRITUAL    SIGNIFICATION    OF    NUMBERS.  243 

hundred  and  twenty  years."  It  denotes  the  lowest  estimate  to 
which  the  good  of  the  church  could  be  reduced,  and  that,  when 
so  reduced,  another  dispensation  should  be  commenced  through 
its  instrumentality.  In  this  sense  it  symbolically  expresses 
the  state  of  every  church  and  people,  previously  to  the  com- 
mencement of  another,  and  in  no  other  sense  has  it  any  histori- 
cal significance. 

Those  who  consider  numbers  in  the  Scriptures  only  in  the 
light  of  arithmetic  or  chronology,  must  needs  have  a  very 
worldly  view  of  the  subjects  treated  of,  whereas  the  true  idea 
which  ought  to  be  attached  to  them  is  spiritual.  This,  indeed, 
must  be  evident  from  the  circumstance  of  the  disaster  which 
was  inevitable  on  David's  numbering  the  people.*  It  is  difficult 
to  see  what  crime  was  involved  in  ascertaining  the  numerical 
strength  of  his  kingdom.  Most  nations  have  thought  it  useful, 
and  adopted  it,  for  the  purposes  of  the  state,  without  intending 
thereby  to  perpetrate  any  offence  against  the  Divine  laws.  But 
it  was  a  representative  history;  and  when  it  is  known  that  such 
numbering  was  significant  of  man  attempting  from  himself  to 
ascertain  the  quality  of  faith  and  virtue  in  the  Church,  which 
can  be  known  only  to  the  Lord,  we  at  once  see  the  heinousness 
of  the  offence  represented,  and,  consequently,  why  it  was  that 
such  calamities  resulted.  In  the  Revelation  it  is  said,  "Let 
him  that  hath  understanding  count  the  number  of  the  beast,"  f 
which  signifies,  that  he  whose  mind  is  enlightened  from  the 
"Word  may  know  what  are  the  nature  and  quality  of  those  doc- 
trines by  which  the  Word  has  been  falsified.  The  falsification 
of  the  Word  here  more, particularly  alluded  to,  is  that  whereby 
charity  and  good  works  have  been  separated  from  faith,  and  the 
latter  set  up  as  the  only  essential  for  salvation.  This  is  the 
beast:  and  his  number  is  said  to  be  six  hundred  threescore  and 
six,  to  denote  how  fully  such  a  doctrine  perverts  all  the  truths 
of  revelation.  I 

*2Sara.  xxiv.  2-13.  t  Kev.  xiii.  18. 

X  The  Greeks  expressed  numbers  by  the  letters  of  their  alphabet,  and 
therefore  it  has  been  supposed  that  the  number  of  the  beast,  as  the  number 
of  a  man,  referred  to  some  individual,  the  letters  of  whose  name,  considered 
as  numerals,  would  make  666.  On  this  ground  great  pains  have  been  taken, 
and  some  ingenuity  displayefl,  to  find  the  number  in  some  persons  or  cir- 


244  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

The  Psalmist  says,  ' '  The  days  of  our  years  are  threescore 
years  and  ten;  and  if  by  reason  of  strength  they  be  fourscore 
years,  yet  is  their  strength  labour  and  sorrow;  for  it  is  soon  cut 
off,  and  we  fly  away."*  It  is  true  that  seventy  or  eighty  years 
are  the  average  of  what  is  now  called  a  good  old  age;  but  it 
must  be  plain  to  the  reflecting,  that  this  passage  does  not  treat 

cumstauces  connected  with  the  Popish  religion.  See  Lowman  and  Archbishop 
Newcome.  The  views  most  generally  received  for  this  purpose  are  two, — 
first,  the  sentence,  viCARivs  FILII  Dei,  on  the  frontlet  of  the  triple  crown 
of  the  Pope,  is  thought  by  some  to  be  very  conclusive  in  pointing  him  out 
to  be  the  beast,  because  the  letters  employed  as  numerals  in  that  sentence, 
when  selected  and  added,  make  up  the  sum  666.  Second,  the  name 
Lateinos,  mentioned  by  Irenjeus,  and  made  use  of  by  the  Greeks  to  ex- 
press the  circumstance  of  the  Romish  Church  having  latinized  everything 
pertaining  to  it,  has  by  others  been  considered  the  name  of  the  beast,  because 
it  contains  the  number  spoken  of ;  and  this  view  is  thought  to  be  corroborated 
by  the  fact  of  the  Hebrew  name  for  the  Roman  kingdom  being  Romiith, 
the  Hebrew  letters  for  which,  considered  as  numerals,  make  the  same  num- 
ber, thus  : 

Lateinos.  Romiith. 

A   ....     30  "^    ....   200 

A   ....        1  1     ....        6 

T    ....   300  Q   ....     40 

E   ....        5  t      ....      10 

1  ....  10  »  ....  10 
N  ....  50  n  ....  400 
0    ....     70  -  — 

2  ....  200 

666 

These  coincidences  are  certainly  remarkable,  but  then  it  requires  something 
more  to  assure  ns  that  such  are  the  facts  referred  to  :  and  especially  it  would 
require  that  such  coincidences  were  peculiar  and  isolated  ;  but  such  is  not 
the  case.  The  Rev.  Robert  Hind  marsh,  in  his  Letters  to  Dr.  Priestley,  p. 
184,  says  that  he  had  made  out  about  a  "hundred  and  fifty  names,  that 
could  no  more  be  supposed  to  have  any  connection  with  the  contents  of  the 
Apocalypse  than  the  man  in  the  moon,"  and,  among  others,  he  has  mentioned 
'^  Joseph  Smith,  Tomkins,  and  Benjamin  Bennet.^^  This  certainly  shows  that 
the  number  of  the  beast  cannot  mean  the  person  whose  name  may  happen 
to  contain  the  numerals  which  make  up  the  sum  666.  The  intention  of  this 
number  is  to  express  the  complete  falsification  above  alhnlcd  to,  wherever 
and  with  whoever  it  may  exi-*t,  but  esj^ecially  that  section  of  the  Church 
with  which  it  has  become  a  doctrine. 

*  Psa.  xc.  10.    • 


SPIRITUAL    YOUTH    AND    AGE.  245 

of  such  a  subject.  More  than  two-thirds  of  the  human  race 
die  in  childhood;  more  than  two-thirds  of  the  aduU  population 
die  before  they  reach  the  age  of  sixty;  not  one-half  of  the  re- 
maining third  continue  on  to  eighty;  and  very  few  have  their 
lives  prolonged  to  ninety.  What,  then,  becomes  of  the  literal 
sense  of  the  passage,  on  the  supposition  that  it  treats  of  the 
duration  of  human  life?  Is  it  a  revelation  only  to  a  few,  not 
one  of  whom  can  ever  know  that  it  will  apply  to  him?  It  may 
be  replied,  that  the  passage  is  not  designed  to  teach  us  that  all 
will  arrive  at  such  an  age,  but  that  its  purpose  is  to  express  a 
limit  beyond  which  we  cannot  reasonably  expect  to  live.  This, 
however,  had  been  taught  by  many  ages  of  experieirce,  during 
which  some  had  lived  beyond  the  asserted  limits,  and,  there- 
fore, its  purpose,  as  a  revelation,  must  be  to  inculcate  something 
else.  The  subject  which  is  really  treated  of  is  the  spiritual  age 
or  state  of  man — the  age  of  the  soul,  not  the  age  of  the  body; 
and  this  age  is  measured,  not  by  the  times  attendant  upon 
natural  life,  but  by  the  states  and  conditions  which  distinguish 
a  religious  life.  The  soul  may  be  young  in  heavenly  things 
when  the  body  is  old  in  worldly  age.  Out-  bodies  may  be 
comparatively  young  in  natural  life,  and  yet  we  may  have 
attained  to  considerable  age  in  spiritual  life.  Youth,  in  spir- 
itual life,  is  feebleness  of  thought,  and  the  want  of  experience 
in  heavenly  goodness:  age,  in  spiritual  life,  is  clear  perception 
of  truth,  and  an  ardent  love  for  all  that  is  pure,  wise,  and 
lovely.  This  cannot  be  reached  suddenly  or  at  once;  there  are 
progressions  in  the  states  which  conduce  to  wisdom,  as  there 
are  successions  in  the  years  which  effect  longevity.  We  cannot 
pass  from  a  state  of  ignorance  to  a  condition  of  wisdom,  without 
going  through  the  discipline  of  instruction,  experience,  reason- 
ings, temptations,  conquests,  and  confirmations  in  good;  all  of 
Avhich  are  so  many  spiritual  years  by  which  man's  interiors  are 
advanced  into  the  gravity  of  that  wisdom  which  constitutes  the 
age  of  heavenly  manhood.  From  the  succession  of  these 
states,  he  who  is  so  disposed  may  see,  among  many  other 
wonderful  things  of  the  Divine  Providence,  that  a  prior  state  is 
the  plane  of  that  which  immediately  follows, — the  old  state 
must  be  gone  through  before  the  new  one  can  begin;  also  that 
the  opening  and  arrangement  of  the  thoughts  and  sensations  of 


246  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATIOX. 

the  outer  man,  proceed  from  the  unfolding  and  development  of 
the  perceptions  and  delights  of  the  inner  man.  It  is  by  passing 
through  those  states  that  the  age  and  stature  of  tlie  soul  are 
measured.  The  old  age  which  the  Scriptures  represent  to  us 
as  venerable,  refers  not  to  the  infirmities  and  decrepitude  of 
the  body,  but  to  that  state  of  gravity,  wisdom,  experience,  and 
resignation  to  the  Divine  will,  which  ought  to  be  possessed 
when  the  body  begins  to  bend  beneath  the  weight  of  advancing 
years.  Age  is  venerable  on  these  accounts,  and  these  are  the 
things  to  be  respected  and  adnjired.  An  old  man  living  in  a 
state  of  wickedness  is  an  odious  spectacle:  vice  in  age  puts  on 
its  grimmest  and  most  horrid  asjiect.  Age  should  be  the  com- 
panion of  that  wisdom  which  can  look  backward,  witli  satis- 
faction and  gratitude,  upon  the  conquests  which  have  been 
.effected  over  vice  and  error,  and  look  forward  with  a  well- 
grounded  confidence  in  the  Divine  mercies,  and  cherish  an 
enlightened  resignation  to  the  Divine  will.  The  aged  man,  in 
whom  Christianity  has  been  enabled  to  fix  her  illustrious  and 
lovely  principles,  charms  and  delights  us.  A  wise  and  good 
old  man  is  one  of  the  most  holy  and  happy  objects  in  created 
nature.  But,  then,  both  his  happiness  and  holiness  belong  to 
his  inner  life,  and  they  have  been  attained  through  a  succession 
of  states,  trials,  temptations,  and  conquests,  which  are  so  many 
spiritual  years  that  have  contributed  to  produce  so  venerable  a 
development  of  religious  placidity  and  excellence.  It  is  to 
express  the  pleasing  aspect  of  this  state  that  the  life  of  man  is 
said  by  the  Psalmist  to  be  threescore  years  and  ten,  for  the 
number  seventy  denotes  what  is  holy,  and,  consequently,  a 
state  of  holiness  in  those  of  whom  it  is  predicated.  It  was  in 
consequence  of  this  signification  of  that  number  that  there 
were  seventy  elders  chosen  for'  Israel,*  and  that  the  Lord  also 
appointed  seventy  disciples,  f  The  propagation  and  establish- 
ment of  the  principles  of  holiness  were  the  objects  and  ends  of 
the  seventy  in  both  cases.  AVhen  Peter  inquired,  "How  oft 
shall  my  l)rother  sin  against  me,  and  I  forgive  him?"  and 
suggested  "  seven  times;  "  the  Lord  replied,  "I  say  not  unto 
thee.  Until  seven  times;  but.  Until  seventy  times  seven,"  | 
which  number  plainly  denotes  that  the  principles  of  charity 

*Exod.  xxiv.  1.  fLuke  x    1.  J  Matt,  xviii.  21,  22. 


THE    LONGEVITY    OF    OPINIONS.  247 

are  to  be  continually  active  under  every  circumstance.  Thus 
the  life  of  man  is  pronounced  to  be  threescore  years  and  ten, 
not  to  express  the  duration  of  his  natural  life  in  the  world,  but 
to  denote  that  condition  of  spiritual  life  of  which  holiness  may 
be  predicated.  But  it  is  farther  said,  "If  by  strength  they  be 
fourscore  years,  yet  is  their  strength  labour  and  sorrow;  for  it 
is  soon  cut  off,  and  we  fly  away."  The  number  eighty,  in  this 
connection,  and  because  it  is  associated  with  the  ideas  of  labour 
and  sorrow,  signifies  those  deep  temptations  by  which  man  is 
introduced  into  a  more  intimate  conjunction  with  the  Lord: 
labour  is  the  temptation  which  the  understanding  sustains  as  to 
its  reception  of  the  truth,  that  all  wisdom  is  the  Lord's;  and 
sorrow  is  the  temptation  which  the  will  experiences  in  its  admis- 
sion of  good,  under  the  pure  acknowledgment  that  it  is  the 
Lord's:  but  these  temptations  soon  pass  away  from  those  who 
have  obtained  the  strength  derivable  from  holiness,  and  they 
enter  into  the  enjoyment  of  more  perfect  liberty,  hence  it  is 
written  that  they  are  "soon  cut  off,  and  we  fly  away."  Im- 
mediately following  this  passage  the  Psalmist  says,  "Teach  us 
to  number  our.  days,  that  we  may  apply  our  hearts  unto 
wisdom;  "  *  which  is  not  to  be  understood  as  the  expression  of 
a  desire  to  ascertain  how  long  we  shall  live,  that  we  may  pre- 
pare ourselves  for  death  just  before  the  event.  No!  The  Lord 
teaches  us  to  number  our  days,  because,  by  the  instructions  of 
his  Word,  we  are  influenced  to  arrange  our  knowledges  of  truth 
and  goodness  for  the  purposes  of  spiritual  life:  and  this  is  the 
application  of  our  hearts  to  wisdom. 

These  considerations  relating  to  what  the  Scriptures  say  of 
the  number  of  years,  which  we  see  are  but  apparently  applied 
to  the  age  of  man,  must  tend  to  show  that  the  numbers  and 
ages  which  are  recorded  of  the  so-called  Antediluvian  Patriarchs 
do  not  express  the  duration  of  the  natural  life  of  individuals, 
but  denote  the  state  and  quality  of  the  respective  branches  of 
the  Adamic  Church,  of  which  Ave  have  seen  their  names  to  be 
significant.  We  have  only  to  change  our  ideas  from  that  of  the 
duration  of  the  life  of  a  person  to  that  of  the  condition  of  a 
religious  dispensation,  and  the  whole  difficulty  which  those 
incredible  ages  suggest  vanishes  at  once.     This  is  a  solution  of 

*  Psa.  xc.  12. 


248  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

the  matter  in  perfect  consistency  with  the  spiritual  purpose  of 
the  narrative  as  a  revelation  from  God,  which  is  to  inform  us  of 
the  qualities  of  the  spiritual  states  that  distinguished  the  heret- 
ical branches  of  the  most  ancient  Church.  The  years  that  they 
lived  denoted  the  states  under  which  they  existed;  by  their 
begetting  sons  and  daughters  is  signified  the  sentiments  and 
affections  which  tliey  engendered;  and  by  their  dying  is  repre- 
sented the  extinction  of  such  states. 

It  is  true  that  as  those  various  heresies  and  doctrines  were 
embraced  by  societies,  they  must  have  been  maintained  for 
some  considerable  time  in  the  world — probably  much  longer 
than  it  was  the  lot  of  any  individual  to  live;  and  therefore  the 
ages  which  are  assigned  to  them  might  have  some  foundation  in 
historical  truth.  Although  we  do  not  think  this  to  have  been 
the  principal  aim  of  the  narrative,  we  see  no  good  reason  for 
rejecting  the  idea.  It  aids  in  the  reduction  of  the  embarrass- 
ments which  the  notion  of  individual  longevity  induces. 
Opinions  live  in  a  community,  after  the  parties  who  invented 
them  have  passed  away,  and  their  followers  and  proselytes  are 
for  a  long  time  called  by  the  names  of  their  founders.  Is7'ael 
and  Edo7)i  were  the  appellations  by  Avhich  all  their  descendants 
were  distinguished  throughout  their  generations.  In  this  sense, 
Israel,  up  to  the  time  of  the  coming  of  the  Lord,  may  be  said 
to  have  lived  upwards  of  eighteen  centuries.  This  view  pro- 
duces no  surprise:  historical  parallels  abound,  both  in  the 
Jewish  and  Christian  Churches,  showing  the  great  ages  to  which 
heretical  branches  of  them  have  lived.  The  Essenes  among  the 
Jews  si^rang  up  at  the  decline  of  the  Babylonish  captivity,  that 
is,  about  five  hundred  years  before  the  Christian  era;  and  the 
Pharisees  and  Sadducees  had  then  existed  upwards  of  two  cen- 
turies, and  were  conspicuous  and  powerful  as  sects  in  the  time 
of  the  Messiah.  So  also  in  Christendom;  the  two  parties, 
Arians  and  Athanasians,  arose  in  the  fourth  century,  and  now 
the  age  of  each  is  nearly  fifteen  hundred  years,  for  they  are 
living  still. 

This  view  suggests  another  consideration.  It  is  to  be  observed 
that  it  is  only  Seth  and  his  descendants  of  whom  longevity  is 
predicated.  We  do  not  read  of  the  age  of  Cain,  or  any  of  his 
progeny.     Although  the  true  reasons  for  these  circumstances 


PERCEPTIVE    CAPABILITY.  249 

are  purely  spiritual,  still  other  probable  grounds,  taking  their 
rise  in  those  reasons,  may  be  assigned.  Seth  being  the  seed 
that  was  given  instead  of  Al)el,  and  so  representing  a  church 
in  which  charity  was  to  be  developed,  would  needs  acquire,  and 
impart  to  its  descendants,  a  longer  life  than  faith  alone,  or  any 
of  its  offspring,  by  possibility  could  reach.  Faith  soon  dies  in 
that  mind  which  is  not  imbued  with  charity.  That  which 
depends  upon  memory  only  for  its  being  has  but  a  fleeting 
existence,  but  that  which  enters  into  the  affections  lives  and 
long  continues.  What  a  multitude  of  religious  notions  have 
lived  just  long  enough  to  die!  But,  on  the  other  hand,  princi- 
ples which  have  regarded  the  good  of  mankind  continue  from 
generation  to  generation,  and  become  venerable  for  their  an- 
tiquity. The  good  of  Christianity  has  lived,  through  various 
vicissitudes,  for  eighteen  hundred  years:  a  thousand  faiths  have 
been  framed  and  pretended  to  be  Christian  during  that  period, 
and  all  have  perished.  The  circumstance,  then,  of  Seth  being 
a  church  in  which  charity,  as  in  the  dispensation  of  Abel,  was 
to  be  continued,  suggests  a  reason  why  longevity  is  predicated 
of  his  generation.  Those  branches  may  have  reached  the  ad- 
vanced ages  which  are  recorded  of  them,  though,  as  it  has  been 
said,  we  consider  that  the  chief  design  of  such  numbers  is  to 
indicate  their  quality  as  to  faith  and  charity :  and  as  every  one 
of  them  was  in  a  different  state  as  to  these  things,  arising  from 
the  distinction  of  genius  and  temper,  hereditarily  acquired, 
therefore  their  ages  were  so  various;  numbers,  agreeably  to  the 
perceptions  of  the  ancient  times,  being  employed  to  express 
them.'  A  more  particular  idea  as  to  what  is  meant  by  the 
qualities  of  churches  Avill  appear  in  the  consideration  we  have 
to  offer  concerning  Enoch,  and  his  so-called  translation. 

Tlie  quality  of  the  several  churches  which  descended  from 
Adam,  through  the  line  of  Seth,  was  derived  from  the  percep- 
tive capability  of  the  people.  The  perception  of  a  church  con- 
sists in  the  ability  of  its  members  to  perceive  from  the  Lord 
what  is  good  and  true;  not  so  much  what  is  good  and  true  as  to 
civil  society,  but  what  is  good  and  true  with  respect  to  love  and 
faith  towards  the  Lord.  Those  who  have  a  faith  in  truth 
confirmed  by  the  good  of  life,  may  form  some  idea  of  what  this 
ancient  perception  was. 


250  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

So  long  as  the  people  called  Seth  remained  in  their  integrity, 
they  were  enabled  to  know,  by  an  internal  impulse,  whatever 
was  good  and  true  in  reference  to  the  things  of  God,  heaven, 
and  religious  duty.  They  arrived  at  this  result,  it  is  to  be  ob- 
served, not  by  an  external  way  of  thinking,  but  by  an  internal 
dictate  and  impression.  The  Lord  talked  with  Adam,  which 
means  an  internal  dictate  as  to  what  is  good  and  excellent. 
The  other  churches  which  proceeded  from  him  experienced  a 
similar  perception,  though,  in  consequence  of  the  fall,  its  force 
and  clearness  were  diminished.  Divisions  in  the  process  of 
time  took  place,  and  the  internals  of  the  minds  of  those  who 
embraced  impure  sentiments  became  successively  closed,  by  the 
misdirection  of  their  affections  to  unworthy  objects,  and  thus 
one  degree  of  perception  perished  after  another;  which  circum- 
stances are  expressed  by  the  recorded  decease  of  Seth,  Enos, 
Cainan,  and  others. 

These  facts  assure  us,  that  the  knowledge  of  what  was  gen- 
uinely true  and  good  was  in  the  process  of  passing  aAvay,  and 
that  the  faculty  through  which  it  had  come  was  being  perverted. 
It  was  during  this  decay  that  Enoch  was  born;  that  is,  a  branch 
of  the  declining  Church,  under  that  name,  came  into  existence. 
The  object  of  that  people  was  to  prevent  the  dissipation  of  those 
religious  knowledges  which  they  saw  was  threatened.  They 
therefore  collected  the  information  which  the  several  preceding 
churches  had  derived  from  perception,  and  Avhich  tradition  had 
preserved,  and  thereupon  they  arranged  them  into  a  doctrinal 
and  perceptive  form;  so  that  the  truths  of  religion,  which  were 
ceasing  to  be  perceived  by  an  internal  way,  might  be  taught  by 
an  external  way.  The  people  called  Enoch  saw  the  changes 
which  were  taking  place  in  the  moral  constitution  and  religious 
character  of  society,  and  thereupon  undertook  the  duty  of  cor- 
recting it,  by  becoming  themselves  instructors.  This  work  was 
according  to  their  genius,  and  therefore  it  was  identified  with 
them.  Hence  it  is  that  they  constituted  a  remarkable  point 
amidst  the  decline  of  those  ancient  churches.  Although  the 
internal  perceptions  of  men  were  decaying,  the  truths  which 
had  been  perceived  were,  by  Enoch,  in  process  of  being  pre- 
served. It  was  the  collection  of  these  truths  into  rules  of  life, 
and  teaching  them,  which  constituted  the  delight  of  that  branch 


THE    CESSATION    OF    PERCEPTION.  251 

of  the  declining  Cliurch  called  Enoch.  Hence  the  name  means 
to  instruct  and  discipline;  and  therefore,  also,  it  is  that  we  find 
the  Apostle  speaking  of  this  Enoch,  the  seventh  from  Adam,  as 
prophesying,*  that  is,  teaching.  Every  one  acquainted  with 
biblical  literature  is  aware  of  the  great  interest  which  has,  upon 
several  occasions,  been  attached  b}^  scholars  to  an  apocryphal 
Book  of  Enoch,  found  in  the  Abyssinian  version  of  the  Scrip- 
tures, several  copies  of  which  have  been  brought  to  Europe  by 
oriental  travellers.  How  far  this  book  possesses  the  antiquity 
or  authority  which  its  name  implies,  cannot  be  now  determined, 
though  there  can  be  no  doubt  of  its  being  a  production  long 
anterior  to  Christianity :  but  the  very  circumstance  of  the  exist- 
ence of  such  a  document  proves  that  a  tradition  must  have 
prevailed,  down  to  the  time  of  its  production,  that  Enocli  was 
distinguished  by  those  characteristics  which  we  have  stated. 
This  is  why  he  is  said  to  have  "walked  with  God";  for  it  is 
well  known  that  to  walk  with  God  means  to  live  according  to 
his  precepts.  Truth  is  the  way  which  God  has  laid  down  for 
men  to  walk  in;  it  is  the  high  road  that  leads  to  his  kingdom: 
he  is  himself  this  way:  indeed,  he  says  so;  f  consequently,  the 
men  who  walk  in  it  also  walk  with  God.  This,  then,  was  a 
distinguished  feature  of  religion  among  the  people  called  Enoch. 
The  fact  is  twice  stated;  X  and  in  the  latter  case  there  is  added 
this  remarkable  clause,  '  *  He  was  not,  for  God  took  him. ' '  This 
is  popularly  understood  to  mean  that  he  was  taken  to  heaven 
without  the  experience  of  natural  death;  not  that  the  sentence 
contains  such  an  idea,  for  the  very  same  phrases  occur  respecting 
the  supposed  death  of  Joseph,  and  also  in  reference  to  the  death 
of  Rachel' s  children :  §  but  it  is  founded  on  the  statement  of  the 

*.Tude  14.  "In  several  of  the  Fathers,  meution  is  made  of  Enoch  as  an 
author,  not  only  of  a  prophetic  writing,  but  of  various  productions.  The 
Book  of  Enoch  is  alluded  to  by  Justyn  Martyr,  Irenjeus,  Clement  of  Alex- 
andria, Tertullian,  Origen,  Augustine,  Jerome,  Hilary,  and  Eusebius."  It 
seems  to  have  been  known  to  them  through  a  Greek  translation,  the  original 
language  in  which  it  was  composed  being  either  Hebrew  or  Chaldee  ;  the 
Ethiopic  version,  discovered  in  Abyssinia,  appears  to  have  been  made  from 
the  Greek,  and  not  from  the  original.  —  See  an  interesting  article  on  this  sithject 
by  the  Rev.  S.  Davidson,  LL.D.,  Professor  of  Biblical  Literature  and  Oriental 
Languages  in  the  Lancashire  Lndcpendcnt  College,  in  Kitto^s  '^£ib.  Cgclopsedia." 

t  John  xiv.  6.         J  Gen.  v.  22  &  24.         §  Gen.  xlii.  36  ;  Jer.  xxxi.  15. 


252  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

Apostle,  -who  says,  "By  faith  Enoch  was  translated  that  he 
should  not  see  death."*  But  by  translation  he  must  have  meant 
a  change  of  state,  disposition,  or  bent  of  mind  (for  he  is  treat- 
ing of  the  effects  of  faith),  and  not  the  removal  of  an  indi- 
vidual, with  his  body,  into  a  place  unfitted  for  its  existence,  for 
that  body,  as  flesh  and  blood,  he  has  said,  cannot  inherit  the 
kingdom  of  God.f  The  view,  therefore,  which  ought  to  be 
taken  of  the  term  translation,  is  somewhat  similar  to  that  which 
the  Apostle  elsewhere  expresses  by  the  word  transform,  as  when 
he  says,  "Be  ye  transformed  by  the  renewing  of  your  mind, 
that  ye  may  prove  Avhat  is  that  good,  and  acceptable,  and  per- 
fect will  of  God. "I  By  Enoch's  not  seeing  death  is  denoted 
that  he  did  not  experience  condemnation.  How  should  he,  if 
he  walked  with  God?  The  character  of  his  faith  prevented  it! 
The  original  description  is,  "  He  was  not,  for  God  took  him:  " 
where,  by  the  sentence,  "he  was  not,"  is  simply  meant  that 
the  doctrines  of  truth  which  were  collected  by  the  people  called 
Enoch,  for  the  instruction  of  posterity,  were  not  theirs;  nothing 
of  their  mind  was  in  them;  they  were  Divine  things,  which 
spoke  of  the  glory  of  God,  and  adapted  to  promote  the  intelli- 
gence of  the  people.  By  the  phrase,  "God  took  him,"  is 
plainly  meant  that  the  truths  so  collected  were  preserved  by 
Divine  Providence  for  the  use  and  edification  of  all  future 
conditions  of  the  Church.  The  correctness  of  this  view  of  the 
case  is  proved  by  the  fact  that  all  subsequent  ages,  conditions, 
and  diversities  of  the  actual  Church  of  God  have  been  instructed 
by  means  of  documents  embodying  the  rules,  teachings,  com- 
mands, and  promises  of  Divine  truth. 

*  Heb.  xi.  5.  f  1  Cor.  xv.  50.  X  Rom.  xii.  2. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

THE  CORRUPTIONS  OF  THE  ANTEDILUVIAN  WORLD. —  THE 
SONS  OF  GOD  TAKING  TO  THEMSELVES  WIVES  OF  THL 
DAUGHTERS  OF  MEN. 

"On  different  senses  different  objects  strike, 
Hence  different  passions  more  or  less  inflame, 
As  strong  or  weak  the  organs  of  the  frame : 
And  hence  one  master-passion  in  the  breast, 
Like  Aaron's  serpent,  swallows  up  the  rest." 

— Pope's  Essay  on  Man. 

The  moral  and  intellectual  corruptions  of  the  most  ancient 
people  are  historical  circumstances,  easily  to  be  perceived,  as  a 
general  idea,  even  though  the  narrative  expressing  them  is 
written  in  language  of  a  purely  figurative  character:  general 
truths,  in  the  Scriptures,  frequently  stand  out  very  conspicu- 
ously amid  the  symbolical  details  in  which  they  are  embodied. 
Still,  as  such,  they  are  surrounded  with  haze  and  mist,  and  they 
will  remain  so  as  long  as  the  mind  rests  merely  in  generality. 
General  ideas  are  comparatively  obscure,  like  distant  objects  in 
the  twilight  of  the  morning;  they  become  clear  only  as  particular 
truths  shine  in  upon  them,  and  afford  lucidity  for  the  develop- 
ment of  their  forms.  These  are  as  beams  from  the  rising  sun, 
successively  breaking  in  upon  the  uncertain  outline  of  objects  in 
the  western  vista,  revealing  to  us  their  nature,  their  forms,  their 
colours,  and  all  their  loveliness. 

Although  the  first  few  verses  of  the  sixth  chapter  of  Genesis 
suggest  a  general  idea  concerning  the  corruptions  of  the  ancient 
world,  still  it  is  evident  that  this  general  idea,  if  we  do  not 
carefully  examine  the  sentences  through  which  that  impression 
may  have  been  derived,  will  be  more  or  less  uncertain.  The 
idea  of  corruption  may,  indeed,  not  pass  away;  but  the  nature 
of  it,  how  it  was  instigated,  and  why  it  should  have  produced 
results  that  were  never  to  occur  again,  remain  unravelled ;  and 
so,  one  of  the  great  objects  of  revelation,  which  is  to  impart 

253 


254  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

clear  and  decisive  thoughts  on  the  subjects  on  which  it  treats,  is 
not  oljtained. 

General  ideas,  not  grounded  upon  particular  information,  are 
not  only  imperfect,  but  liable  to  be  lost.  They  are  like  a  candle 
introduced  into  a  murky  atmosphere,  the  liglit  of  which  grows 
dim,  and  so  is  in  danger  of  being  extinguished.  ^Ve  cannot  be 
certain  that  our  general  ideas  are  true,  unless  we  have  been  care- 
ful to  form  them  on  the  consideration  of  particular  and  specific 
knowledges:  just  in  the  same  way  that  the  general  notion  of 
being  a  sinner  is  a  very  undefined  notion,  so  long  as  it  remains 
unfounded  on  the  fact  and  consciousness  of  having  perpetrated 
particular  sins.  Most  persons  will  freely  acknowledge  them- 
selves to  be  sinners  in  a  general  sense,  but  how  few  will  confess 
to  the  guilt  of  particular  transgression!  The  general  assertion 
of  being  a  sinner  has  a  meaning  in  the  faith  of  the  utterer,  no 
farther  than  he  has  searched  out  his  particular  sins.  Again, 
how  common  is  it  for  men  to  acquire  a  general  prejudice,  for 
or  against  certain  things,  without  having  furnished  themselves 
with  any  particular  reasons  for  the  adoption  of  such  prejudice. 
This  is  found  to  operate,  not  only  Avith  respect  to  persons  and 
circumstances  in  the  world,  but  likewise  in  reference  to  the 
statements  and  purposes  of  revelation.  Some  men  are  well 
known  to  entertain  certain  general  ideas  about  a  variety  of  sub- 
jects mentioned  in  the  Word  of  God,  although  they  may  have 
never  candidly  examined  the  particular  evidences  on  which  they 
rest,  or  the  conclusions  to  which  they  conduce.  For  instance: 
every  one  has  a  general  idea  that  the  antediluvian  peojile  became 
exceedingly  corrupt;  but  how  few  are  they  who  have  any  par- 
ticular idea  of  the  wickedness  into  which  they  fell,  although  it 
is  evident  that  it  must  have  been  of  a  very  peculiar  nature,  or 
it  could  not  have  brought  about  so  terrible  a  result  as  it  is 
related  to  have  done.  Again,  most  persons  have  some  general 
idea  that  the  catastrojjhe  called  the  flood  Avas  an  overfloAV  of 
water  and  a  drowning  of  the  people;  but  whenever  the  particu- 
lars of  science  and  theology  are  brought  to  bear  upon  this  gen- 
eral notion,  the  whole  matter  ])ecomes  a  dim  and  doubtful 
thing;  so  that,  in  order  to  retain  any  faith  in  the  occurrence,  as 
popularly  imderstood,  it  is  found  requisite  to  refer  the  matter 
to  Onmipotence.       Of  course,   when  false   conceptions  of   this 


OUR    GENERAL    AND    PARTICULAR    IDEAS.  255 

Divine  attribute  are  brought  into  a  subject,  the  right  activities 
of  reason  will  go  out  of  it.  Omnipotence  cannot  be  without  its 
laws  of  order,  nor  can  God  transgress  them. 

The  grounding  of  our  general  ideas  of  theological  truth  upon 
particular  conceptions  of  it,  is  of  the  utmost  importance  to  the 
intellectual  well-being  of  the  Church.  It  is  in  consequence 
of  this  duty  not  having  been  sufficiently  attended  to,  that  so 
many  of  the  leading  doctrines  of  popular  Christianity  are  full  of 
perplexities.  Take,  for  example,  the  general  proposition  that 
there  is  a  Divine  Trinity  in  God:  this,  as  a  general  proposition, 
presents  no  difficulties;  but  the  moment  we  begin  to  inquire 
into  the  particular  notions,  of  which  that  Trinity  is  popularly 
said  to  consist,  the  subject  becomes  dark,  and  its  advocates  are 
compelled  to  wrap  it  up  in  the  cloak  of  wonderment  and  mys- 
tery! The  same  may  l>e  said  of  the  doctrines  of  the  atonement, 
mediation,  the  resurrection,  and  several  other  tenets,  as  they  are 
commonly  understood.  We  refer  to  these  subjects  merely  to 
illustrate  the  distinction  which  may  exist  between  the  general 
and  particular  ideas  of  a  subject,  and  to  suggest  that  all  general 
ideas,  to  be  salutary  and  useful,  must  take  their  rise  from 
such  as  are  clear  and  sensible  in  particulars.  It  is  only  when 
this  is  the  case  that  the  mass  of  truth  is  made  up  of  coherent 
parts,  and  each  contributes  its  light  and  strength  to  increase  the 
power  and  brilliancy  of  the  whole. 

The  corruptions  of  the  antediluvian  Church,  viewed  under  a 
general  idea,  were  similar  to  those  which  have  taken  place  with 
the  churches  of  after  times.  It  rejected  the  goods  of  charity 
and  perverted  the  truths  of  faith,  as  was  done  by  the  Jewish 
Church  before  the  coming  of  the  Lord;  also,  as  he  predicted 
would  be  the  case,  by  that  which  he  came  to  establish.*  But 
there  was  a  peculiarity  about  the  genius  and  character  of  the 
antediluvian  people  which  has  not  prevailed  in  after  times,  and 
this  gave  to  their  corruptions  a  peculiar  enormity.  In  the  pos- 
session of  Eden  they  enjoyed  a  state  of  perception :  by  this  they 
intuitively,  and  from  an  impulsive  love  of  goodness,  were 
immediately  enabled  to  comprehend  the  ideas  and  pur})oses  of 
faith.  In  consequence  of  their  internal  eminence,  they  could 
acquire  the  knoAvledges  and  delights  of  religious  principles  by 
*  See  Matt.  xxiv.  throughout. 


256  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

an  influx  from  the  Lord:  whereas  the  people  of  after  times  have 
had  to  procure  those  things  by  external  teachings,  the  difficul- 
ties of  receiving  which  have  been  increased  by  the  evil  inclina- 
tions transmitted  to  them  by  the  transgressions  of  their  progeni- 
tors. Those  who,  l)y  actual  evils,  render  them  infixed  principles 
of  their  nature,  must  needs  transmit  the  seeds  thereof  to  their 
immediate  descendants.  The  parent  can  only  communicate  to 
his  offspring  that  which  he  himself  possesses.  Posterity  is 
affected  with  his  vices  or  benefited  by  his  virtues,  so  far  as  he 
makes  them  his  own  by  actual  life.  Revelation  declares  the 
action  of  this  law,  and  experience  proves  the  truth  of  it.*  With 
the  early  posterity  of  the  Adamic  people,  evils  were  not  so 
deeply  rooted  as  they  afterwards  became;  and  therefore,  those 
internal  influences  from  the  Lord,  l^y  which  their  ancestors  had 
been  raised  to  the  sunnnit  of  religious  intelligence  and  enjoy- 
ment, were  not  suddenly  destroyed:  that  was  a  progressive 
work,  and  it  was  eventually  effected.  Now,  as  no  other  than 
an  internal  way  had  yet  been  opened  out  in  man  for  the  Lord's 
approach  to  him,  it  is  plain  that  whenever  that  channel  should, 
be  closed,  mankind  would  be  left  without  a  guide,  and  that, 
consequently,  they  would  rush  without  a  check  into  every  enor- 
mity, and  guilt  would  necessarily  bring  about  their  destruction. 
But  here  we  are  anticipating  an  argument  we  shall  have  again 
to  raise.  The  circumstances  of  the  Adamic  Church  having 
been  once  distinguished  by  the  most  exalted  purity,  and  that 
in  successive  generations  the  people  fell  from  their  elevated 
condition  into  the  fiercest  wickedness,  show  that  their  state  was 
essentially  different  from  that  of  any  other  church  which  has 
since  been  planted.  Every  other  has  had  its  commencement 
with  mankind  in  a  state  of  evil:  this  was  not  the  condition  of 
the  primeval  people  of  the  Adamic  Church;  consequently,  when 
they  fell,  it  was  from  a  greater  height  than  it  has  been  possible 
for  any  dispensation  since  to  do,  and  therefore  it  was  that  they 
entailed,  in  that  descent,  so  disastrous  a  calamity.  It  is  a 
law  that  "unto  whomsoever  much  is  given,  of  him  shall  be 
much  required."  There  are  a  propriety  and  reasonableness 
about  this  Scriptural  enactment  which  every  one  may  see.  It 
is  also  a  law,  that  the  "servant  which  knew  his  Lord's  will, 
*  Exod.  XX.  5,  6. 


PECULIARITY    OF    THE    ADAMIC    PEOPLE.  257 

and  prepared  not  himself,  neither  did  according  to  his  will,  shall 
be  beaten  with  many  stripes,"*  which  plainly  means,  that  if 
those  fall  who  have  had  superior  advantages,  they  will  sink  into 
deeper  degradation  than  those  who  may  not  have  been  so 
favourably  .circumstanced.  The  opposite  of  the  highest  good 
is  the  deepest  evil:  the  higher  the  summit  is  from  which  a  man 
falls,  the  more  certain — the  more  terrible — becomes  his  destruc- 
tion. Hence  the  fall  of  the  Adamic  Church  was  so  dreadful  in 
its  results!  It  was  effected  by  the  successive  shutting  out  of 
good  and  truth  from  their  affections  and  thoughts,  until  at  last 
both  their  wills  and  understandings  were  closed  against  their 
admission.  Hereupon  they  became  infested  with  all  sorts  of 
abominable  persuasions,  from  which  they  were  not  afterwards 
willing  to  recede.  "The  wickedness  of  man  was  great  in  the 
earth,  and  every  imagination  of  the  thoughts  of  his  heart  was 
only  evil  continually:  "f  therefore,  whatever  fell  into  their  ideas 
was,  by  the  cupidity  of  their  self-love,  converted  into  a  means 
of  lust,  and,  finally,  they  supposed  themselves  to  be  as  gods. 
This  was  the  state  indicated  by  the  delusion  of  the  serpent, 
Avho,  in  effecting  his  seductions,  is  reported  to  have  said, 
' '  Your  eyes  shall  be  opened,  and  ye  shall  be  as  gods. ' '  X  Evil 
loves  and  false  persuasions  took  possession  of  their  minds,  and 
became  the  sole  influence  in  their  conduct.  "The  earth  was 
corrupt  before  God,  and  the  earth  was  filled  with  violence. 
And  God  looked  upon  the  earth,  and,  behold,  it  was  corrupt; 
for  all  flesh  had  corrupted  his  way  upon  the  earth. "§  Wliile 
this  account  at  first  sight  furnishes  us  with  a  general  idea  of  the 
enormity  of  those  times,  the  considerations  adduced  present  us 
with  a  more  particular  idea  concerning  the  nature  and  extent  of 
it.  The  genius  of  the  people  being  peculiar,  arising  from  the 
intimate  association  of  their  wills  and  understandings,  became 
admissive  of  states  of  evil,  against  the  entrance  of  which  pos- 
terity was  to  be  secured.  With  the  people  called  Noah,  it  was 
provided  by  the  Lord  tliat  there  should  be  some  few  remains  of 
innocence  and  knowledge  stored  up  in  the  interiors  of  their 
minds,  as  planes  upon  which  the  Divine  influence  might 
operate   for   the  production    of   another  church,    to  effect  the 

*  Luke  xii.  47,  48.  t  Gen.  vi.  5.   ^ 

X  Gen.  iii.  5.  g  Gen.  vi.  11,  12. 

19 


258  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

restoration  of  those  who  fall,  and  so  to  become  the  groundwork 
of  their  regeneration:  this  we  believe  to  be  signified  by  the 
promise,  "  Yet  his  days  shall  be  a  hundred  aijd  twenty  years." 
It  was  seen  in  a  preceding  chapter,*  that  this  statement  had  no 
reference  to  the  age  of  man:  and  we  here  observe  that  it  ex- 
presses the  state  of  remains  concerning  faith,  which  should  bo 
provided  for  in  subsequent  generations  of  men.  Remains  are 
all  those  true  ideas  and  good  impressions  which  are  derived  from 
the  Lord's  Word,  and  introduced  into  a  man's  memory  during 
the  periods  of  his  infancy  and  childhood,  also  of  those  states 
Avhich  are  derived  therefrom;  such  as  the  states  of  innocence  from 
infancy;  states  of  love  towards  parents,  relations,  instructors, 
and  friends;  states  of  kindness  towards  one's  neighbour,  and  of 
tenderness  towards  the  poor  and  needy.  These  states,  with  the 
sentiments  and  feelings  connected  with  them,  are  now  preserved 
in  the  internal  man  by  the  Lord,  and  carefully  separated  from 
all  that  is  evil  and  false.  Every  one  is  aware  that  such  things 
remain  with  him,  notwithstanding  the  evils  into  which  he  may 
have  fallen;  and  in  that  circumstance  he  has  what  is  promised 
by  his  "days  being  a  hundred  and  twenty  years."  For  by 
these  remains  man  has  the  orderly  groundwork  for  reflecting 
upon  what  is  good  and  true,  and  so  to  think  and  reason  upon 
religious  things;  for  they  are  among  the  first  receptacles  of 
celestial  and  spiritual  life  in  fallen  man. 

The  reason  why  a  hundred  and  twenty  denote  remains^  may 
be  seen  by  referring  to  the  signification  of  twelve  and  ten,  by 
the  multiplication  of  which  that  number  is  obtained.  Those 
two  numbers  very  frequently  occur  in  the  Scriptures,  and  they 
are  connected  with  some  of  the  most  conspicuous  circumstances 
mentioned  therein.  It  will  be  sufficient  for  our  purpose  to 
notice,  in  respect  to  the  number  twelve,  a  few  instances  in  which 
it  occurs;  and,  in  reference  to  the  number  ten,  the  Decalogue, 
and  tithings.  It  must  be  plain  to  every  one  who  will  carefully 
study  the  use  of  those  numbers  in  the  Word,  that  they  involve 
a  meaning  different  from  what  they  literally  express.  Nor  need 
we  be  surprised  at  this,  for  it  is  no  uncommon  thing  in  our  own 
day  to  hear  persons,  in  certain  kinds  of  conversation,  speak  of 
dozens  and  tens,  Avithout  intending  thereby  to  express  what  is 

*  See  pnge  241. 


NUMBERS    TWELVE    AND    TEN.  259 

nnmerically  correct,  but  chiefly  to  indicate  some  general  idea. 
Tlie  numbers  mentioned  in  the  Scriptures  were  selected  for  the 
sake  of  the  representation  they  were  intended  to  sustain,  and  in 
no  case  are  they  to  be  considered  accidental  or  indifferent. 

By  twelve  are  signified  all  things  belonging  to  love,  and  faith 
grounded  therein.  It  was  on  this  account  that  Aaron's  breast- 
plate had  twelve  precious  stones,*  and  the  genuine  Church  has 
twelve  foundations  and  twelve  gates,  f  It  was  for  the  same 
reason  that  there  were  tivelve  triljes  of  Israel,  and  twelve  apostles; 
also,  that  Jesus,  when  tivelve  years  old,  went  up  to  Jerusalem,  sat 
with  the  doctors  in  the  temple,  and  aroused  their  astonishment 
at  his  understanding  and  answers.  J 

But  by  ten  are  denoted  remains.  The  Decalogue  is  so  named 
because  the  commandments  of  the  moral  law  are  called  the 
'.'ten  words. "§  The  sentiments  therein  contained  were  not 
promulgated  for  the  first  time  when  revealed  to  Moses;  they 
were  the  holy  truths  Avhich  remained  of  a  more  ancient  dispen- 

*  Exod.  xxviii.  21.  f  Rev.  xxi.  14-21. 

X  Lake  ii.  42-47.  A  more  enlarged  view  of  the  ground  on  which  numbers 
have  a  spiritual  signification,  with  ample  illustrations,  is  furnished  in  an  in- 
teresting little  work,  ".4  Key  to  the  Sjiirifiial  Signification  of  Numbers, 
Weights,  and  Measures,''''  by  the  late  Ecr.  Hindviarsh. 

^  Exod.  xxxiv.  28,  marginal  reading.  These  "  words"  or  commandments 
are  not  numerically  divided  in  the  Scriptures  ;  nor  are  they  called  ten  for  a 
numerical  purpose  ;  if  so,  it  would  have  been  indicated  in  the  letter  ;  whereas 
no  one  can  say,  on  such  authority,  which  is  the  first,  second,  and  so  on. 
They  have  been  divided,  so  as  to  make  that  number,  by  Biblical  critics  ;  and 
the  convenience  thus  afforded  has  led  to  the  reception  of  such  a  division  by 
the  Church  from  a  very  early  period.  But  the  mode  of  division  has  not  been 
uniform.  Most  of  "the  fathers  "  have  written  upon  this  subject :  wliile  they 
all  admit  that  tliere  should  be  ten,  differences  of  opinion  exist  as  to  where  the 
separations  should  be  made,  particularly  concerning  those  which  are  recorded 
from  the  first  to  the  twelfth  verse,  and  at  the  seventeenth  verse,  of  the 
twentieth  chapter  of  Exodus.  The  division  adopted  by  the  Greek,  Reformed, 
and  Anglican  Churches  is  that  of  Origen,  which  places  five  upon  each  table, 
making  the  fifth  upon  the  first  table  to  be,  "  Honour  tliy  father  and  mother," 
&c.  Of  course,  there  is  no  Divine  authority  for  such  an  arrangement,  and  some 
have  doubted  whether  calling  them  first,  second,  and  so  on,  is  not  an  addition 
to  the  Word,  which  ought  not  to  ])e  made.  Philo  Jud^us,  in  his  "  Be  Dcca- 
logo,"  supposes  that  they  were  called  the  Decalogue  to  denote  their  per- 
fection, ten  being  considered  the  most  perfect  number.  The  true  reason  is 
indicated  above. 


260  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

sation:  for  every  one  may  see  that  the  evils  therein  forbidden 
were  known  to  be  such,  by  the  Israelites  and  other  nations, 
before  they  were  delivered  upon  Mount  Sinai.  But  as  such 
knowledges  remained  without  the  source  of  them  being  acknowl- 
edged, they  were  re-enacted  in  a  miraculous  manner,  before  the 
sons  of  Jacob,  in  order  to  signify  their  Divine  origination. 
Hence  it  is  plain  that  ten  denote  remains  in  general.  This  idea 
explains  why  Abram  is  said  to  have  given  Melchizedek  "  tithes 
of  all "  ;*  and  why  it  was  directed  that  a  tenth  part  of  the  fruits 
of  the  earth  should  be  offered  to  the  Lord,  and  by  Him  was 
given  to  Aaron  and  the  Levites.f  These  tenths  represented 
what  remained  of  truth  and  good  among  the  Israelitish  Church, 
and  consequently  that  they  belonged  to  the  Lord,  therefore  it  is 
written,  "The  tenth  shall  be  holy  unto  the  Lord.":|: 

From  these  significations  of  twelve  and  ten,  we  may.  perceive 
that  the  number,  "  a  hundred  and  twenty,"  Avhich  results  from 
their  multiplication,  and  is  said  to  be  the  day  of  the  years  of 
man,  denotes  the  remains  of  truth  and  good,  for  the  security 
of  which  the  Lord  would  provide  in  the  future  generations  of 
our  race.  From  these  considerations  we  learn  that  numbers  in 
the  Word  are  to  be  understood  altogether  abstractedly  from  the 
sense  of  the  letter,  they  being  inserted  mainly  to  carry  on  the 
historical  series,  which  appears  in  the  literal  sense. 

The  corruptions  of  the  people,  up  to  the  period  of  this  an- 
nouncement, were  of  a  kind  that  never  existed  before  or  since. 
That  a  provision  was  to  be  made  against  their  recurrence,  by 
means  of  a  change  about  to  be  induced  upon  the  subsequent 
condition  of  mankind,-  is  declared  by  the  Lord,  where  he  said  to 
Noah,  "Behold,  I  establish  my  covenant  with  you,  and  with 
your  seed  after  you; — neither  shall  all  flesh  be  cut  off  any  more 
by  the  waters  of  a  flood;  neither  shall  there  any  more  be  a  flood 
to  destroy  the  earth."  §  The  covenant  thus  declared  to  have 
been  made  plainly  shows  that  a  new  state  must  have  been 
induced  upon  the  minds  of  those  who  received  it.  A  cove- 
nant is  an  agreement  between  two,  with  the  conditions  of  which 
they  are  mutually  satisfied.      It  is  true  that  in  the  covenants 

*  Gen.  xiv.  20.  f  Numb,  xviii.  24-28  ;  Dent.  xiv.  22. 

J  Lev.  xxvii.  32.  ?  Gen.  ix.  9-11. 


NEW   STATE   TO    BE    INDUCED    IN    MAN.  261 

which  the  Lord  effects  with  men,  he  alone  offers  the  conditions; 
the  reason  is,  because  he  can  present  nothing  but  what  is  right 
and  just:  those  who  accept  tlie  Divine  propositions  are  favour- 
abl}^  disposed  to  what  is  good.  His  covenants  therefore  relate 
to  internal  and  spiritual  tilings,  and  consequently  to  human  re- 
generation; and  for  this,  it  is  obvious,  in  the  case  before  us,  that 
a  new  mental  state  must  have  been  provided.  The  promise  that 
there  should  not  any  more  be  a  flood  to  destroy  the  earth,  cer- 
tainly indicates  that  this  new  state  was  ever  afterwards  to  exist 
and  to  prevent  the  return  of  such  a  calamity. 

But  this  leads  us  to  ask  what  it  was  Avhich  constituted  this  pe- 
culiar mental  characteristic  of  the  antediluvians;  because,  with- 
out some  idea  of  that  peculiarity,  we  must  be  at  a  loss  to  account 
for  the  circumstance  of  their  remains  having  perished  in  their 
corruptions,  with  the  exception  of  those  which  were  preserved 
with  Noah,  to  become  the  groundwork  of  another  dispensation. 
In  reference  to  this  point,  it  was  shown  in  a  preceding  chapter, 
treating  of  the  occupation  and  enjoyments  of  Eden,  that  love 
was  the  reigning  principle  of  their  character,  and  that  all  their 
wisdom  arose  therefrom;  their  wills  and  understandings  acted,  not 
as  two,  but  as  one  faculty;  so  that  in  whatever  direction  their 
affections  were  placed,  their  intellect  took  the  same  course;  their 
thoughts  and  affections  acted  in  unity.  That  was  their  genus: 
each  part  of  their  minds  cohered  with  the  other,  and  they  formed 
one.  This  mental  characteristic,  when  employed  in  the  service 
of  God,  led  to  the  highest  results  in  religious  attainment;  but 
when  they  fell,  they  also  carried  this  genus  with  them  into 
their  corruptions.  When  they  began  to  love  what  was  evil, 
they  also  began  to  think  what  was  false,  and  this  distinguished 
every  act.  This  state  may  be  compared  to  a  glutinous  sub- 
stance, so  that  when  any  goods  or  truths  came  into  contact  with 
it  they  were  ensnared,  and  could  not  be  separated :  consequently 
remains,  with  the  antediluvians,  instead  of  being  stored  up  and 
preserved  as  the  plane  for  subsequent  regeneration,  were  pro- 
faned, their  profanation  consisting  in  this,  that  they  had  received 
truth  and  good  in  faith  and  heart,  and  had  afterwards  in  faith 
and  heart  denied  them.  Hence,  in  their  last  posterity,  it  pro- 
duced those  dire  persuasions  by  which  all  spiritual  goodness  and 


262  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

truth  was  overwhelmed,  and  through  which  they  became 
extinct:  for  a  man,  when  his  remains  are  destroyed,  has  notliing 
left  through  which  the  Lord  can  reach  and  save  him. 

Such  was  the  mental  constitution  or  genus  of  those  ancient 
people,  yet  it  jierished  Avith  them;  for  the  Lord  said,  "All  flesh 
shall  not  be  cut  off  any  more  by  the  waters  of  a  flood."  But 
why  ?  Clearly  because  a  new  state  was  to  be  provided,  through 
which  it  would  be  prevented.  In  what  was  this  new  state  to 
consist?  There  can  be  little  douljt  that  it  was  to  consist  in 
the  separation  of  the  intellectual  principle  from  the  will;  so  that 
man  might,  by  the  intellectual  princifjle,  be  enabled  to  know 
what  is  true  and  good,  notwithstanding  the  entire  corruption  of 
his  will;  and  thereby  to  provide  for  the  safe  custody  of  his 
"  remains."  Every  one's  experience  proves  to  him  that  this  is 
now  the  condition  of  man:  every  branch  of  the  authentic  his- 
tory of  our  race,  from  the  period  of  the  flood,  contributes 
proofs  of  this  fact.  If  a  man  love  an  evil,  and  pursue  it,  his 
understanding  tells  him  of  the  iniquity.  The  will  may,  nay,  it 
does,  strive  to  induce  the  understanding  to  favour  its  impurities, 
and  to  some  extent  it  may  succeed;  but  there  are  certain  states 
implanted  during  the  innocence  of  youth  which  cannot  be 
obliterated.  The  greatest  criminals  are  not  found  insensible  to 
every  virtue;  they  are  known  to  feel  acutel}^  on  being  reminded 
of  the  better  states  of  their  early  days.  The  idea  that  such 
states  are  favourable  to  good,  cannot  perish.  In  separating  the 
intellectual  faculty  from  the  will,  the  Lord  has  provided  a 
means  for  the  access  of  himself  to  the  human  race,  Avhich  can- 
not be  entirely  closed  by  man  during  his  residence  below;  and 
thus  He  has  mercifully  erected  a  barrier  against  the  recurrence 
of  such  an  inundation  of  false  persuasions,  grounded  in  evil 
loves,  as  prevailed  in  the  last  da3^s  of  the  antediluvian  world, 
and  which  led  to  the  destruction  of  its  inhabitants. 

The  narrative  of  Moses  furnishes  us  with  two  particulars  con- 
cerning the  enormities  in  religion  that  prevailed  in  those  times. 
The  first,  with  the  consideration  of  which  we  shall  close  this 
chapter,  is  thus  related:  "  It  came  to  pass,  when  men  began  to 
multiply  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  and  daughters  were  born  unto 
them,  that  the  sons  of  God  saw  the  daughters  of  men  that  they 


OPINIONS    CONCERNING    THE    "  SONS    OF    GOD."  263 

were  fair;  and  they  took  them  wives  of  all  Avhich  they  chose."* 
This  is  certainly  intended  to  express  some  atrocity,  which 
assisted  in  bringing  about  the  catastrophe  of  the  flood.  But 
what  was  the  nature  of  it?  Daughters  were  born  to  men  long 
before  the  chronological  era  which  the  narrative  is  supposed  to 
contemplate.  Adam  and  Seth,  Enos  and  Cainan,  with  several 
others,  are  stated  to  have  begotten  sons  and  daughters  many 
hundreds  of  years  before  this  period,  f  The  birth  of  daughters, 
therefore,  was  no  new  thing  when  men  began  to  multiply.  But 
why  not  sons  as  well  as  daughters  ?  Is  it  not  plain  that  this 
cannot  have  been  recorded  to  indicate  what  the  letter  seems  to 
express  ?  On  such  a  supposition  the  narrative  will  present  no 
ordinary  difficulties.  These  daughters  are  said  to  have  been 
fair;  %  but  surely  there  was  nothing  very  sinful  in  such  a  cir- 
cumstance. It  is  not  very  reasonable  to  identify  crime  with 
beauty.  We  can  conceive  how  beauty  may  lead  to  vanity  and 
evil  in  a  certain  class  of  characters,  but  not  how  it  can  be  an 
evil  in  itself;  and  the  statement  before  us  merely  announces 
what  is  conceded  to  be  the  natural  inheritance  of  the  sex, 
namely,  that  they  were  at  least  physicall}-  adapted  to  become 
objects  of  affection.  The}'  were  so  considered  by  the  "sons  of 
God";  and  whatever  popular  idea  may  be  attached  to  this 
phrase,  there  is  no  ground  for  denying  that  they  might  have 
been  tolerable  judges  of  such  a  matter.  If  the  daughters  of 
men  were  fair  in  their  eyes,  that  is  good  reason  to  presume  that 
they  really  were  so. 

But  what  idea  is  the  phrase  "  sons  of  God  "  intended  to  ex- 
press? The  literal  sense  has  furnished,  among  others,  the  fol- 
lowing opinions  on  the  subject:  first,  that  they  were  angels. 
Now,  if  we  so  consider  them,  then  the  circumstance  of  their 
having  taken  to  themselves  wives  of  the  daughters  of  men  is  not 
very  easily  comprehended.  We  do  not  see  how  purely  spiritual 
beings  could  fall  in  love  with  really  natural  women,  so  long  as 
they  existed  in  the  material  world;  neither  do  we  perceive  how 
women  could  reciprocate  an  affection  for  husbands  who,  for  the 
want  of  corporeity,  could  not  be  seen  or  touched.  But  as  this 
idea  of  "the  sons  of  God"  is  not  generally  insisted  on,  we 
need  not  dwell  upon  its  consequences.     Another  idea  which  the 

*  Gen.  vi.  1,  2.  t  Gp"-  v.  4-10.  %  Heb.,  good. 


264  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

phrase  has  been  thought  to  signify  is,  that  they  were  good  men.^ 
The  faithful  and  obedient  are  sometimes  so  called  in  the  Scrip- 
tures. Of  the  Lord  it  is  said,  to  "  as  many  as  received  him,  to 
them  gave  he  power  to  become  the  sons  of  God,  even  to  them 
that  believe  on  his  name,  "f  But  if  this  be  the  meaning  of 
the  phrase,  of  what  enormity  were  they  guilty  ?  Surely  it  is 
difficult  to  perceive  any  evil  in  the  circumstance  of  a  good  man 
choosing  a  fair  woman  for  his  Avife.  Marriage  is  one  of  the 
institutions  of  God  himself,  and  human  choice  in  such  a  matter 
is  one  of  the  ingredients  requisite  to  contribute  to  the  happiness 
of  which  it  is  productive.  A  good  man  is  not  forbidden  to 
marry,  or  deprived  of  choice  in  such  an  affair;  and  yet  the  nar- 
rative before  us  presents  the  circumstance  as  having  been  one 
of  the  proximate  causes  Avhich  hurried  on  the  disaster  of  the 
flood  !  But  where  shall  we  find  those  good  men  of  whom  the 
phrase  "sons  of  God"  is  considered  to  be  descriptive?  It  is 
true,  indeed,  that  "  Noah  found  grace  in  the  eyes  of  the  Lord  "  : 
that  "he  was  a  just  man  and  perfect  in  his  generations."! 
Nevertheless,  this  is  not  the  character  which  the  "sons  of 
God  ' '  are  contemplated  to  have  sustained :  they  were  guilty  of 
some  enormit}^  therefore  a  "good  man"  cannot  be  the  right 
signification  of  the  phrase;  and  the  notion  commonly  attached 
to  the  fairness  of  the  women  excludes  from  it  such  an  idea.  It 
has  been  supposed  that  those  fair  daughters  were  merely  beau- 
tiful as  to  their  persons,  and  that  they  were  taken  as  Avives  from 
their  physical  aspect,  irrespective  of  any  sound  consideration 
of  character. §  Of  course,  this  can  only  be  a  conjecture;  yet  if 
it  is  conceded  as  probable,  what  is  to  become  of  the  above  idea 
of  the  sons  of  God?  they  cannot  be  good  men  who  sacrifice 
principle  to  appearance  in  so  serious  a  matter.  They  cannot 
be  the  sons  of  God  in  such  a  sense,  who  prefer  appetite  to 
virtue.  If  the  sons  of  God  were  good  men,  they  must  have 
made  a  prudent  choice  of  wives,  and  in  that  case  there  seems 

*  This  is  the  opinion  of  Dr.  A.  Clarke,  who  says,  "  They  were  such  as  were, 
according  to  our  Lord's  doctrine,  horn  again  from  above,  and  made  children 
of  God  by  the  influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit." 

t  John  i.  12.  J  Gen.  vi.  8,  9. 

?  See  Commentary  of  Henry  and  Scott,  published  for  the  Religious  Tract 
Society. 


THE    INTERNAL   SENSE.  265 

no  ground  for  the  calamity  towards  which  their  choice  is  said 
to  have  contributed.  If  they  did  not  make  such  a  choice,  then 
the  title  ' '  sons  of  God ' '  cannot  mean  what  it  has  been  sup- 
posed to  mean.  Indeed,  the  general  scope  of  the  history,  as 
well  as  the  particular  declarations  of  it,-  show  "  that  the  wicked- 
ness of  man  was  great  in  the  earth,  and  that  every  imagination 
of  the  thoughts  of  his  heart  ivas  only  evil  continually."  * 
What,  then,  is  to  be  done  Avith  this  passage  of  our  history  ? 
The  more  it  is  viewed  in  the  light  of  a  literal  narrative,  the 
more  dense  becomes  the  fog  by  which  it  is  surrounded,  f  The 
word  of  the  Lord  is  spirit;  and  it  is  to  this  that  we  must  go, 
to  be  delivered  from  the  embarrassments  of  the  letter.  Let  us 
try  the  effect  of  such  a  course. 

It  came  to  pass,  when  men  began  to  multiply  on  the  face  of 
the  earth,  that  daughters  were  born  unto  them.  By  men  are 
plainly  meant  mankind  who  lived  in  those  times  of  the  declin- 
ing Church.  The  spiritual  Cjuality  of  this  people,  in  respect  to 
the  things  of  love  and  faith,  was  exceedingly  corrupt.  The 
wickedness  of  men  was  great  in  the  earth;  and  they  are  here 
called  men,  not  because  they  j^ossessed  the  principles  of  re- 
ligious manhood,  but  chiefly  because  they  were  responsible  for 
their  perversities.  The  multiplication  of  such  men  denoted  the 
increase  of  those  corruptions  into  which  the  race  at  that  time 
fell;  and  they  are  said  to  have  multiplied  on  the  face  of  the 
earth  (properly  ground),  to  signify  that  the  increase  of  their 

*Gen.  vi.  5. 

t  Tliree  other  views  have  been  taken  of  this  passage,  which  it  may  be  use- 
ful to  notice.  One  is,  that  the  phrase  "  sons  of  God  "  ought  not  to  be  under- 
stood in  a  strict  sense,  but  as  denoting  that  men  distinguished  lor  their  posi- 
tion in  society  were,  with  a  profane  use  of  language,  called  sons  of  God  by 
the  servile  portion  of  the  community  ;  and,  consequently,  that  Moses 
adopted  their  expression  in  his  history.  But  of  this  the  text  affords  no 
evidence  ;  nor  do  the  Scriptures  present  an  instance  of  wicked  men  being  so 
denominated.  Another  idea  is,  that  the  term  translated  ^o^?  ought  to  have 
])een  given  as  "  princes,"  "  great  men,"  "  rulers,"  or  some  equivalent  word. 
To  this  it  maj'  be  sufficient  to  observe,  that  the  original  word  is  Elohim. 
The  third  o])inion  is,  that  the  "  sons  of  God  "  were  the  sons  of  Seth,  Orient- 
ally expressed,  and  that  their  .sin  consisted  in  marrying  with  the  daughters 
of  Cain,  which  is  considered  to  have  been  prohibited.  These,  however,  are 
mere  conjectures,  for  which  there  is  no  evidence  in  the  letter  of  the  history. 


266  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

wickedness  spread  itself  aljroad  upon  the  visible  Church  at  that 
period.  The  face  of  the  ground  is  the  visible  character  of  the 
Cliurch,  and  this  is  presented  in  the  lives  of  its  professors.  If 
their  lives  be  wise  and  virtuous,  the  face  of  the  ground  is  bright 
and  lovely;  but  if  their- lives  be  ignorant  and  vicious,  then  tlie 
face  of  the  ground  is  benighted  and  defiled.  This  latter  was  the 
condition  of  the  visible  Church  now  treated  of.  The  people 
had  successively  abandoned  the  ways  of  God,  and  pursued  the 
criminal  indulgence  of  their  own  follies;  and  in  this  perverted 
state,  daughters  are  said  to  have  been  born  unto  them — not 
sons,  but  daughters  only — because  by  tlie  daughters  of  the 
wicked  are  spiritually  denoted  the  lusts  which  they  originate. 
The  wicked,  as  is  well  known,  are  continually  engendering  some 
new  lusts,  and  these,  in  the  figurative  style  of  antiquity,  are 
here  represented  by  daughters.  The  good  also  are  never  un- 
mindful of  genuine  usefulness,  and  they  are  always  giving 
origination  to  some  new  love,  which,  upon  the  same  principle, 
where  good  is  the  subject  treated  of,  is  likewise  spoken  of  as  a 
daughter.  The  precise  signification  is  determined  by  the  quality 
of  the  things  which  are  predicated.  Thus  when  the  affections 
of  goodness  and  truth  are  spoken  of  as  existing  in  the  Church, 
they  are  called  the  daughters  of  Zion,  the  daughters  of  Judah, 
and  the  daughters  of  Jerusalem.*  But  Avhen  the  lusts  of  evil 
and  falsehood  are  treated  of,  they  are  called  the  daughters  of 
Babylon,  the  daughters  of  the  Philistines,  the  daughters  of 
Moabjf  and  in  the  instance  specially  before  us,  the  daughters  of 
men.  The  ground  of  these  significations  is,  that  woman  is 
affection  by  nature.  The  affection  of  good  is  soft,  delicate,  and 
persevering, — thus,  as  a  female;  while  the  understanding  of 
truth  is  discriminating,  robust,  and  powerful, — and  thus,  as  a 
male.  On  whatever  woman  sets  her  heart  she  is  extreme:  when 
she  directs  her  affections  to  what  is  good,  she  is  inexpressibly 
loving;  when  she  dedicates  herself  to  vice,  she  is  horribly 
revolting.  A  woman  in  the  search  of  excellence  is  sweet  and 
prudent;  but  in  the  i3ursuit  of  wickedness  she  is  coarse  and 
disgusting.     A  virtuous  woman  is  a  ruby,  a  vicious  woman  is  a 

*Zech.  ii.  10;  Psa.  xlviii.  11,  &c.,  &c. ;  Lam.  ii.  13. 
t  Psa.  cxxxvii.  8  ;  2  Sam.  i.  20  ;  Numb.  xxv.  1. 


THE    INTERNAL    SENSE.  267 

viper;  and  from  these  circumstances  we  may  readily  see  that 
what  is  love  witli  the  good,  is  converted  into  last  with  the  wicked. 
Wickedness  was  the  characteristic  of  the  men  under  consider- 
ation, consequently  the  daughters  said  to  have  been  born  unto 
them  were  Imts^  manifesting  a  distinctiveness  in  the  evil  conduct 
of  the  times. 

It  is  in  consequence  of  the  will  having  sunk  into  mere  evil, 
while  the  understanding,  by  having  been  separated  from  it,  was 
preserved  in  a  state  capable  of  having  something  that  is  intel- 
lectual and  rational  formed  within  it,  that  there  were  so  many 
laws  enacted  under  the  Jewish  dispensation,  pointing  out  the 
prerogatives  of  man;  that  is,  of  the  faculty  of  the  understand- 
ing, and  of  the  obedience  due  from  the  woman,  which  is  the 
submission  of  the  will.  Those  laws  and  statements  are  not  to 
be  understood  to  mean  that  there  is  any  natural  superiority  or 
mastery  belonging  to  the  one  sex,  and  some  inferiority  or  sub- 
ordination proper  to  the  other.  The  distinction  is  not  of  such  a 
kind,  l)ut  it  consists  in  the  circumstance,  that  with  the  woman, 
the  icill  is  her  extreme  characteristic;  and  with  the  man,  the 
understanding  is  his  extreme  characteristic^  On  these  grounds, 
therefore,  it  is  that  the  two  sexes  represent  their  most  visible 
characteristics, — the  woman,  will  and  its  affections,  and  the 
man,  understanding  and  its  thoughts.  If  the  will,  in  conse- 
(juence  of  its  fallen  quality,  do  not  submit  to  the  government 
of  the  rational  thoughts  of  the  understanding,  it  goes  astray 
from  every  good,  and  thereupon  all  those  lusts  are  engendered 
which  contribute  so  largely  to  bring  about  the  moral  desolation 
of  the  Church. 

Seeing,  then,  that  by  the  daughters  of  men,  in  the  case  before 
us,  are  spiritually  denoted  those  lusts  of  evil  which  were 
brouglit  forth  by  the  wickedness  of  those  early  inhabitants  of 
our  earth,  let  us  in  the  next  place  endeavour  to  ascertain  what  is 
meant  by  "  the  sons  of  C4od."  Now,  as  by  daughters  in  general 
are  signified  the  things  of  affection  in  the  will,  so  by  sons  are 
spiritually  represented  the  things  of  thought  in  the  understand- 
ing. "While  affection,  as  the  offspring  of  the  will,  is  as  a 
daughter,  thought,  as  the  offspring  of  the  understanding,  is  as 
a  son.  Hence  so7is,  apart  from  the  mere  letter  of  the  expression, 
represent  the  thoughts  of  the  understanding,  and  therefore  the 


268  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

phrase  "sons  of  God"  denotes  all  those  thoughts  which  pro- 
ceed from  God;  consecjiiently,  Divine  truths. 

The  Lord  Jesus  Christ  is  called  the  Son  of  God  in  a  pre-emi- 
nent sense,  because  that  name  expresses  the  Divine  truth  which 
he  manifested  and  sustained.  "  I  am,"  said  he,  "  the  truth."* 
Again,  it  is  written  of  him  that  he  was  "  the  \Vord,"t  which  is 
the  truth.  He  was  the  living  impersonation  and  eml)odiment 
of  the  Word;  he  likewise  declared  that  those  "  were  called  gods 
to  whom  the  word  of  God  came  "  ;  J  but  it  is  evident  that  it  was 
the  reception  of  the  Divine  truth  which  conferred  this  remarka- 
ble distinction.  Judges  are  called  gods,§  because  the  judgment 
they  were  required  to  exercise  was  to  be  formed  according  to 
truth  and  equity.  Moses  is  said  to  have  been  a  god  to  Pharaoh,  || 
because  he  was  the  messenger  by  whom  Divine  truth  was  to  be 
communicated  to  that  obstinate  monarch.  In  these  cases  Divine 
truth  is  called  God,  and  particular  truths  derived  therefrom  are 
called  "the  sons  of  God."  Hence  those  who  believe  in  God 
are  said  to  be  his  sons,^  because  such  belief  is  founded  on  the 
reception  and  acknowledgment  of  the  Divine  truth  from  him. 
The  power  which  is  given  to  men  to  become  the  sons  of  God  re- 
sults from  their  knowing  Divine  truth,  and  applying  it  to  the 
formation  of  their  character.  Hence  the  Apostle  says,  "As 
many  as  are  led  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  they  are  the  sons  of 
God."  **  The  Spirit  of  God  is  the  influence  of  Divine  truth 
proceeding  from  him. 

The  sons  of  God,  then,  in  the  remarkable  passage  Ave  are  con- 
sidering, is  a  phrase  intended  to  express  those  doctrinal  truths 
which  yet  remained  among  the  people.  They  had  been  handed 
down  to  them  from  a  remote  and  superior  ancestry,  and  had  not 
yet  been  dissipated  by  the  corruptions  of  the  people:  that  was 
an  enormity  they  were  now  about  to  perpetrate.  They  are  said 
to  have  seen  the  daughters  of  men  that  they  were  fair,  to  inform 
us  that  they  were  about  to  favour  and  subserve  the  lusts  of  evil; 
and  the  consummation  of  this  iniquity  is  thus  described: 
"They  took  to  them  wives  of  all  which  they  chose." 

This  is  a  peculiar  circumstance,  which  takes  place  in  the 
human  mind  as  the  things  of  the  Church  are  departing  out  of  it; 

*  John  xiv.  G.         f  .Tohn  i.  1-14.  X  ■Tol'"  n-  ">•''•  ?  Exod.  xxii.  28. 

II  Exod.  vii.  1.  If  Jolin  i.  12.  **  Rom.  viii.  14. 


THE    MEANING    ILLUSTRATED.  269 

and  therefore  it  may  be  useful  to  elucidate  it  by  an  additional 
remark.  When  a  man  turns  himself  away  from  goodness,  and 
goes  in  an  opposite  direction,  a  change  takes  place  both  as  to 
the  objects  of  his  love  and  the  subjects  of  his  thinking.  That 
also  which  he  loves  pre-eminently  he  thinks  continually,  and  so 
all  the  knowledges  of  his  mind  are  brought  into  requisition,  to 
serve  and  favour  the  objects  of  his  love.  If  there  be  any  pow- 
erful truth  which  cannot  be  easily  made  to  bend  in  such  a 
direction,  it  is  rejected  and  ultimately  forgotten;  but  all  other 
truths  are  induced  to  favour  the  lusts  desired,  and  so  to  look 
upon  them  as  "  fair."  By  this  means  men  confirm  themselves 
in  their  impurities,  and  thereby  they  are  not  unfrequently  led 
into  the  delusion  of  believing  their  evil  to  be  good.  This  state 
is  spoken  of  in  the  Scriptures  as  putting  bitter  for  sweet,  and 
sweet  for  bitter;  *  and  it  may  readily  be  conceived  by  any  one 
who  Avill  attentively  observe  Avhat  passes  in  himself  and  others. 
Every  one  who  loves  an  evil  will  endeavour  to  invent  arguments 
to  persuade  himself  that  it  is  allowable,  as  well  as  agreeable. 
Men  are  exceedingly  expert  in  reasoning  favourably  for  the 
things  they  love.  The  materials  for  such  reasonings  they  will 
draw  from  any  and  every  source  at  their  command:  nor  will  the 
Word  of  the  Lord  itself  be  left  untouched  in  such  a  course. 
Approximations  to  this  are  occasionally  observable  in  quoting 
the  Scriptures  upon  light  and  frivolous  occasions;  and  particu- 
larly when  its  passages  are  cited  as  the  authority  or  excuse  for 
any  questionable  conduct.  As,  for  instance,  when  the  wars  to 
which  the  Israelites  were  directed  are  referred  to  as  a  sanction 
for  the  prosecution  of  wars  in  general;  or  when  the  conduct  of 
David  is  cited  to  justify  the  indulgence  of  some  criminal  pro- 
pensity. But  whenever  any  of  the  statements  of  Divine  truth 
are  employed  to  favour  and  forward  the  pursuits  of  a  selfish 
love,  then  the  sons  of  God  are  in  the  act  of  seeing  the  daughters 
of  men  to  be  fair — the  Divine  truths  are  employed  to  subserve 
the  purposes  of  human  lusts.  Those  who  are  in  evil  will  excuse 
the  outbreaks  of  their  anger  by  adducing  passages  expressive  of 
the  Divine  wrath;  f    and  they  will  defend  the  hatred  of  their 

*  Isa.  V.  20. 

fit  is  reported  that  the  Pope,  Julius  III.,  had  been  greatly  enrag^  at 
the  Bishop  of  Rimini,  his  major-domo,  about  a  peacock  ;  that  his  Holiness 


270  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

enemies  by  citing  the  laws  of  retaliation:  in  short,  evil  men, 
like  devils,  can  quote  Scripture  for  their  purpose,  pervert  its 
design,  and  thus  bring  its  truth  into  contact  with  impurity.* 
All  such  cases  may  be  taken  as  illustrations  of  those  dark  scenes 
of  moral  turpitude  which  transpired  in  the  latter  days  of  the 
antediluvian  world,  expressed  in  the  remarkable  yejt  powerfully 
significant  sentence,  ' '  The  sons  of  God  saw  the  daughters  of  men 
that  they  were  fair." 

Those  abandoned  people,  having  perverted  the  truth  to 
subserve  an  evil  purpose,  must  needs  have  profaned  it;  and 
thereby  they  deprived  themselves  not  only  of  every  spiritual 
good,  but  even  of  those  remains  which  might  have  conduced  to 
its  attainment.  All  such  profanation  of  the  Word  closes  the 
interiors  of  the  mind  against  the  influence  of  heavenly  graces, 
and  prepares  it  for  the  inundation  and  overflow  of  those  infernal 
principles  in  which  they  perish. 

It  was  to  describe  that  desperate  condition,  in  which  the  mind 
would  no  longer  be  led  by  the  spiritual  things  of  heaven,  that 
the  Lord  is  stated  to  have  said,  "My  spirit  shall  not  always 
strive  with  man."  The  Spirit  of  the  Lord  consists  in  those 
holy  influences  which  proceed  from  him  to  operate  on  men  the 
graces  of  salvation,  through  the  teaching  of  his  Word;  and  the 
strivings  of  this  Spirit  consisted  in  its  efforts  to  rescue  men  from 
evil,  and  better  their  condition  in  respect  to  heavenly  things. 
When  this  effort  ceased  to  be  effective,  in  consequence  of  its 
being  resisted  on  the  part  of  man,  then  this  Spirit  is  said  to 
strive  no  longer;  not  that  the  mercy  of  the  Lord  was  withdrawn, 
but  that  it  had  ceased  to   be  perceived  or  acknowledged  by 

twice  blasphemed;  and  that  when  oue  of  the  cardinals  told  him  that  he 
ought  not  to  be  so  angry  upon  so  small  a  matter,  the  Pope  answered,  "If 
God  was  so  much  disturbed,  and  filled  with  such  anger  and  fury,  and  did 
such  a  quantity  of  evil  to  tlie  whole  human  race  about  an  apple,  why  may 
not  I,  who  am  his  vicar  upon  earth,  be  angry  with  my  major-domo  about  a 
peacock?" — Examiner  of  May  18,  1817,  as  cited  by  the  Rev.  R.  Hindmarsh. 

*  I  remember  reading  some  few  years  ago,  in  a  police  report,  of  a  man  who 
had  neglected  and  run  away  from  his  family  defending  himself  with  the  fol- 
lowing passage  of  the  Word:  "  Every  one  that  hath  forsaken  houses,  or  breth- 
ren, or  sisters,  or  father,  or  mother,  or  wife,  or  children,  or  lands,  for  my 
sal^e,  shall  receive  an  hundredfold,  and  shall  inherit  everlasting  life." — 
Matt.  xix.  29. 


THE    MEANING    ILLUSTRATED.  271 

mankind.  Nevertheless,  the  design  of  perpetuating  the  human 
race  was  not  to  be  abandoned,  though  new  ground  was  to  be 
provided  for  the  reception  of  the  means.  It  was  pronounced 
that  there  ' '  should  not  be  any  more  a  flood  to  destroy  the 
earth  " ;  *  because  means  for  its  prevention  had  been  adopted  in 
the  new  arrangement  of  the  human  mind  before  referred  to.  The 
remains,  which  were  to  be  inseminated  into  the  intellectual 
faculty,  and  there  preserved  by  the  Lord,  were  no  more  to  be 
destroyed,  as  they  had  been  by  the  last  posterity  of  the  most 
ancient  people. 

*  Gen.  ix.  11. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

THE  GIANTS  THAT  WERE  IN  THE  ANTEDILUVIAN  WORLD,— 
AND  THE  REPENTANCE  OF  THE  LORD  THAT  HE  HAD 
MADE  MAN. 

"  It  is  not  necessary  to  understand  any  particular  race  of  men,  of  higher  stature  than 
usual,  as  many  ancient  interpreters  have  done;  for  since  nephil  means,  to  fall  or 
rush  on  any  one,  nephllim  will  mean  those  who  rush  or  fall  on  others,  i.e.,  rob- 
bers, banditti, — the  centaurs  of  the  Greeks  were  the  same  kind  of  people." — 

ROSENMULLER. 

It  is  a  remarkable  circumstance  that,  towards  the  closing  of 
the  antediluvian  period,  we  should  be  informed  that  "  there  were 
giants  in  the  earth  in  those  days;  and  also  after  that,  when  the 
sons  of  God  came  in  unto  the  daughters  of  men,  and  the}^  bare 
children  to  them,  the  same  became  mighty  men  which  were  of 
old,  men  of  renown."  *  The  most  accomplished  scholars  admit 
that  the  original  term,  here  translated  giants,  does  not  neces- 
sarily mean  men  of  extraordinary  stature,  and  that  it  may  be 
ver}'  fairly  construed  to  signify  persons  with  remarkable 
minds,  t  Taking  this  view  of  the  subject,  we  at  once  perceive 
a  reason  for  the  statement,  which  otherwise  seems  disconnected. 
It  comports  with  the  circumstance  of  their  origin  being  traced 
to  a  connection  of  the  sons  of  God  with  the  daughters  of  men; 
and  doubtless  it  is  designed  to  point  out  one  of  the  mental 
phenomena  developed  by  an  expiring  church,  and  it  must  be 
understood  to  indicate  some  enormity,  which  the  idea  of  gigantic 
bodies  does  not  furnish. 

There  might  have  been  individuals  in  those  times,  as  there 
have  been  in  all  subsequent  ages  and  nations,  whose  physical 

*  Gen.  vi.  4. 

t  Some  derive  the  original  from  a  Hebrew  root  which  denotes  to  fall,  and 
render  it  apostates,  i.  e.,  ni«n  who /e// ojf  from  the  faith  of  God;  others  render 
it  oppressors,  i.  e.,  men  wlio/e/Z  upon  or  assaulted  their  l<ellow-men.  Others, 
deriving  the  original  from  another  root,  render  it  men  of  distinction.  This 
they  certainly  were  ;  but  for  what  were  they  distinguished  ? 

272 


WHAT    THE    GIANTS    ARE.  273 

stature  exceeded  the  average  size  of  men.  Several  instances  are 
mentioned  in  the  really  historical  portions  of  the  Scriptures.  Og, 
the  king  of  Bashan;  *  Goliath,  of  Gath;  f  the  fathers  of  Ishbi- 
benob  and  Saph,  J  may  be  cited  as  examples;  and  even  Saul, 
the  king  of  Israel,  "  from  his  shoulders  and  upward  was  higher 
than  any  of  the  people.  "§  Indeed,  it  appears  that  there  were 
some  families  or  tribes  who  attained  an  uncommon  height:  the 
sons  of  Anak  are  so  described;  ||  so  also  are  "  many  "  of  those 
whom  the  Moabites  called  Emims,  and  the  Ammonites,  Zam- 
zummims.^  The  Rephaims  likewise,  from  the  name,  are  con- 
sidered such  a  race.  Now  there  cannot  be  any  moral  wrong  in 
the  circumstance  of  the  body  being  developed  into  extraordinary 
magnitude:  it  is  a  consequence  of  the  action  of  some  natural 
law,  over  which  men  have  but  very  little  control.  But  it  is  re- 
markable that  in  every  case  where  such  persons  are  treated  of  in 
the  Scriptures,  they  are  contemplated  as  being  at  enmity  with 
God  and  religion! 

This  circumstance  forcibly  suggests  that  such  cases  are  re- 
corded, not  so  much  to  supply  us  with  historical  information, 
as  to  afford  the  means  of  a  spiritual  representation.  We  do  not 
obtain  much  religious  knowledge  from  being  told  that  certain 
men  or  classes  of  persons  attained  to  an  unusual  height.  Such 
a  fact  may  be  interesting  to  science,  but  it  conveys  no  informa- 
tion about  the  characteristics  of  the  mind,  heart,  or  religion: 
these,  after  all,  are  the  great  topics  upon  which  the  Scriptures 
treat  in  every  part;  and  the  machinery  of  eloquence,  poetry, 
history,  and  figure  in  a  variety  of  forms,  is  employed  to  sub- 
serve this  momentous  purpose. 

*Deiit.  iii.  11.  He  is  said  to  have  been  a  remnant  of  giants;  most  prob- 
ably to  intimate  that  he  was  the  hist  of  a  family  possessing  unusual  stature. 
His  real  height  is  not  recorded;  his  bed  (Michaelis  and  Dathe  transkte  it  his 
coffin)  is  said  to  have  been  nine  cubits  long,  which  are  fifteen  feet  four  inches 
and  a  half. 

1 1  Sam.  xvii.  4.  He  was  six  cubits  and  a  span  in  height ;  that  is,  ten  feet 
seven  inches.  The  skeleton  of  O'Brien,  preserved  in  the  Museum  of  the 
Royal  College  of  Surgeons,  in  London,  measures  seven  feet  eleven  inches  in 
height. 

X  2  Sam.  xxi.  16,  18.  §  1  Sam.  ix.  2.  ||  Numb.  xiii.  33. 

1[Deut.  ii.  10,  11,  20. 
20 


274  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

Although,  then,  there  might  have  been  exceedingly  tall  men 
in  the  antediluvian  world,  we  conceive  that  by  the  giants  of 
whom  Moses  speaks,  as  existing  in  the  earth  in  those  days,  were 
represented  some  enormous  condition  of  mind  rather  than  of 
body;  and  that  it  was  produced,  as  intimated,  by  that  profane 
commerce  which  existed  between  the  sons  of  God  and  the 
daughters  of  men.  It  is  easy  to  see  that  such  a  result  must 
have  taken  place  Avhen  the  doctrines  of  truth  were  prostituted 
so  as  to  favour  the  lusts  of  men.  Under  such  a  circumstance 
they  forgot  the  greatness  of  God,  and  strove  to  increase  the  pro- 
portions of  themselves.  They  grew  big  in  their  own  eyes,  and 
their  phantasies  caused  them  to  suppose  that  they  possessed  a 
large  mental  stature.  The  mind  has  its  dimensions  as  well  as 
the  body;  and  hence  we  sometimes  speak  of  great  and  little 
minds,  of  giant  thoughts  and  dwarfish  notions.  The  term  giant 
is  derived  from  words  which  express  the  idea  of  earth-born;  and 
those  of  Avhom  Moses  treats,  in  the  case  before  us,  were  so 
because  they  possessed  an  enlarged  condition  of  selfish  love, 
which  "is  of  the  earth,  earthy."  By  a  great  opinion  of  their 
own  heiglit  and  pre-eminence,  they  set  aside  whatever  was 
humble,  contrite,  and  holy,  and  blew  themselves  into  unseemly 
proportions.  ' '  Charity, ' '  says  the  Apostle,  ' '  vaunteth  not  it- 
self, is  not  puffed  up,  doth  not  behave  itself  unseemly"  ;*  but 
self-love  and  its  persuasions,  which  are  the  opposites  to  this 
heavenly  grace,  do  all  these  things.  The  wicked  who  have 
knowledge,  make  it  bend  to  favour  their  criminal  pursuits,  and 
so  their  vices  become  gigantic.  It  is  the  obvious  result  of  such 
a  course.  This  idea  is  such  as  most  persons  can  appreciate;  for 
every  one  has  met  with  men  who  were  more  or  less  great  in  their 
own  estimation, — who  considered  themselves  somewhat  above 
the  ordinary  dimensions  of  the  mental  standard.  Such  phan- 
tasies swell  out  their  imaginary  importance,  and,  in  the  absence 
of  the  only  correctives, — religious  influences  and  truths, — they 
are  sure  to  become  great  in  their  own  eyes.  Now  tliis  condi- 
tion, which  has  been  more  or  less  realized  in  every  age  of  the 
world,  was,  at  the  period  of  which  we  are  treating,  developed 
in  great  enormity;  hence  it  became  one  of  the  effective  causes 
which  hastened  on  the  inundation  of  the  world. 

*  1  Cor.  xiii.  4,  5. 


WHAT    PROFANATION    IS.  275 

This  posterity  of  the  dying  Church  were  ca.lled  in  Hebrew, 
Nephihm,  which  Aquila  translates,  EniTzinnr/Teq  (Epipiptontes), 
men  who  attack;  and  Symniachus,  Iha'wt.  (Biaioi),  violent  men, 
those  whose  rule  of  action  is  by  force  of  arms;  these  interpreta- 
tions agree  with  the  idea  above  expressed.  There  are,  however, 
several  words  in  the  Hebrew  Scriptures  signifying  giants,  which 
are  not  distinguished  in  the  English  version.  They  are  used 
merely  as  names,  and  the  ordinary  reader  only  learns  that  they 
have  such  a  meaning  by  collateral  circumstances.  Among  these 
are  Emim,  Anakim,  and  Rephaim;*  each  of  them  is  expressive 
of  some  bad  quality,  which  had  become  conspicuous  by  the 
rejection  of  some  particular  good  of  religion  and  the  Church. 
But  the  Nephilim,  which  our  version  calls  giants,  were  of  the 
most  atrocious  kind;  and  hence  the  best  scholars  have  consid- 
ered the  word  to  express  the  idea  of  men  whose  minds  had 
become  somewhat  enormous,  in  consequence  of  the  guilt  and 
profanation  into  which  they  had  plunged  themselves,  f 

These  mental  enormities  were  produced,  as  before  observed, 
in  those  who  perverted  the  doctrines  of  faith  to  favour  the  filthy 
loves,  signified  by  the  sons  of  God  going  in  unto  the  daughters 
of  men,  and  their  bearing  to  them.  J  The  result  of  such  a  fro- 
Avard  course  must  obviously  have  been  the  profanation  of  the 
holy  things  of  the  Church,  and  thus  to  hasten  on  its  desolation 
and  ])roduce  its  end. 

Profanation  consists  in  first  knowing  what  interior  truth  and 
goodness  are,  then  in  perverting  them  to  selfish  purposes,  and 
linally  making  them  favour  things  impure  and  wicked:  this,  for 
example,  is  the  case  with  those  who  have  once  acknowledged 
the  sanctity  of  conjugal  love,  but  on  hearing  anything  about  the 
heavenly  origin  of  marriage  and  the  holiness  of  that  estate,  turn 

*  The  Septnagint  sometimes  translates  the  Hebrew  word  Gibbor,  yiyavTeg^ 
fjignnies.  For  iustance,  it  says  that  Nimrod  was  a  yyaf,  i.  e,,  a  giant,  before 
the  Lord  (Gen.  x.  8,  9).  Our  version  says  he  was  a  "mighty  one," — "a  mighty 
liunter  before  the  Lord."  The  idea  intended  to  be  expressed  by  this  passage 
is  that  Nimrod  was  powerful  in  persuasion. 

t  Df.  A.  Clarke  says,  "  Fallen,  earth-born  men,  with  the  animal  and  devil- 
ish mind,  were  the  Nephilim." 

X  It  is  not  said  in  the  original  that  they  bare  children;  and  the  word  chil- 
dren is  italicized  in  our  version  to  point  out  that  fact. 


276  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

it  into  ideas  of  lasciviousness  and  lust;  or,  to  take  another  in- 
stance, namely,  those  who  have  once  been  made  acquainted 
with  the  sacred  things  of  religion,  and  thence  acknowledged 
them;  afterwards  come  to  regard  them  only  as  means  hy  which 
to  impose  upon  mankind,  to  acquire  dominion  in  the  circle 
wherein  they  move,  and  so  procure  gratification  for  their  loves 
of  self  and  of  the  world.  Those  who  possess  within  themselves 
any  knowledges  of  Divine  truth,  and  at  the  same  time  do  not 
acknowledge  the  Lord  and  his  authority  therein,  are  obviously 
guilty  of  this  profanation.  There  are  various  degrees  of  this 
enormity,  some  more  interior  than  others;  some  affecting  good- 
ness, and  some  affecting  truth,  each  genus  having  many  species; 
so  that  it  behoves  men  to  be  watchful  over  every  sentiment  or 
emotion  that  would  lead  them  to  employ  Divine  things  to  other 
than  heavenly  uses.  Whenever  such  profanation  takes  place, 
then  "the  sons  of  God  have  gone  in  unto  the  daughters  of 
men,"  and  Nephilim  are  born, — enormities  of  spiritual  state 
and  life  come  forth. 

But  they  are  also  called  "mighty  men  which  were  of  old, 
men  of  renoAvn. "  They  are  thus  denominated  to  signify  the 
power  which  selfish  love  had  developed  among  them.  It  is  well 
known  that  self-love  is  mighty  in  all  its  endeavours  to  secure  the 
ends  which  it  proposes.  The  desires  of  reputation,  wealth, 
honours,  place,  distinction,  or  any  other  worldly  eminence, 
when  uninfluenced  by  the  principles  of  religion,  are  so  many 
varying  forms  of  self-love,  in  which  may  be  seen  its  might  in 
setting  aside  obstacles,  surmounting  difficulties,  and  successfully 
securing  the  objects  at  which  it  aims.  It  is  against  the  might 
of  this  nefarious  principle  that  the  graces  and  teachings  of  re- 
ligion have  to  contend.  So  long  as  self-love  reigns  and  sways 
its  iron  sceptre  over  the  human  character,  so  long  love  to  God 
and  charity  to  man  are  excluded  from  exercising  their  beneficent 
influences  upon  the  heart,  and  it  is  exposed  to  the  inflowings  of 
every  impurity.  Self-love  is  a  principle  that  is  mighty  for  evil; 
and  it  is  in  the  continual  effort  to  render  all  i)ersons  subservient 
to  its  purposes,  and  all  things  contributory  to  its  designs.  It 
was  the  influence  of  this  unhallowed  might  that  brought  the 
Avorld  into  that  condition  which  rendered  redemption  necessary 
for  man's  safety  and  continuance.     It  was  spiritual  wickedness 


SHOCKING    DEPRAVITY.  277 

in  high  i)laces,  so  induced,  with  which  the  Lord  wrestled  in 
order  to  accompHsh  that  work;  tlierefore  it  is  written,  "A  sword 
is  upon  her  mighty  men;  and  they  shall  be  dismayed";*  where 
by  a  sword  is  not  meant  the  weapon  of  the  soldier,  but  the 
Lord's  Divine  truth;  for,  when  judgment  comes,  that  truth  re- 
sists and  inflicts  dismay  upon  all  who  derive  their  might  from 
selfish  love.  It  is  to  the  same  purpose  that  Amos  declares, 
"The  strong  shall  not  strengthen  his  force,  neither  shall  the 
mighty  deliver  himself " ;  f  where  by  the  mighty  are  denoted 
those  who  from  self-love  are  powerful  to  do  evil.  Again,  Isaiah 
says,  "Woe  unto  them  that  are  mighty  to  drink  wine,  and  men 
of  strength  to  mingle  strong  drink:  which  justify  the  wicked  for 
reward,  and  take  away  the  righteousness  of  the  righteous  from 
him  !  "  I  wdiere  the  "mighty,"  and  the  "men  of  strength," 
denote  self-love  and  the  love  of  the  world.  These  considera- 
tions sufficiently  show  that  the  Nephilim  or  giants  are  called 
' '  mighty  men  ' '  in  reference  to  the  powerful  nature  of  that  self- 
love  in  which  they  were  principled;  and  which  resisted,  in 
pursuing  its  delights,  all  those  orderly  influences  of  truth  and 
heaven  which  the  Divine  Providence  had  brought  to  bear  upon 
their  condition. 

But  it  is  said  of  such  mighty  ones  that  they  "  were  of  old, 
men  of  renown."  Hence  we  learn  that  this  very  ancient  nar- 
ration refers  to  a  period  which  then  belonged  to  a  remote 
antiquity,  and  to  a  description  of  character  which  existed  at 
that  time, — to  persons  who  had  the  genus  of  the  Nephilim, 
but  who  had  not  reached  so  great  a  depth  in  degradation. 
Those  of  old  "  w^ere  men  of  renown,"  or  of  a  name,  who  had 
acquired  a  quality  and  distinction  from  the  influences  of  self- 
love,  but  with  whom  it  had  not  attained  so  atrocious  a  develop- 
ment as  with  those  Nephilim,  who  are  now  called  ' '  mighty 
men. ' ' 

All  these  circumstances,  showing  the  depraved  condition  into 
which  the  people  of  those  times  were  sinking,  are  fully  cor- 
roborated by  the  declarations  which  immediately  follow, 
namely,  ' '  And  God  saw  that  the  wickedness  of  man  xvas  great 
in  the  earth,  and  that  every  imagination  of  the  thoughts  of  his 

*  Jer.  1.  ;i6.  t  Amos  ii.  14.  %  Isa.  v.  22,  23. 


278  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

heart  was  only  evil  continually."*  Tins,  indeed,  is  a  forcible 
description  of  their  moral  profligacy,  and  we  at  once  grasp  the 
general  idea  of  it.  But  it  also  announces  some  particulars,  and 
points  out  the  peculiar  quality  of  their  state. 

By  the  wickedness  of  man  being  great,  with  the  statement 
that  it  proceeded  from  the  heart,  are  plainly  denoted  that  there 
began  to  be  no  will  for  anything  that  is  good.  The  will  of  man 
is  a  principle  peculiar  to  his  nature;  but  it  is  truly  human  only 
so  far  as  it  is  directed  to  the  love  and  pursuit  of  intelligence  and 
virtue.  This  is  the  interesting  use  for  which  it  was  given,  and 
it  is  preserved  by  being  dedicated  to  it.  When  men  reject  good- 
ness, the  will,  as  a  human  principle,  perishes,  and  instead 
thereof  lusts  take  place:  this  was  the  perilous  condition  of  the 
people  at  the  time  now  treated  of.  Their  will  was  averted  from 
the  purposes  of  good,  and  converted  into  a  means  of  evil.  Its 
primitive  condition  may  be  compared  to  a  beautiful  palace, 
erected  for  the  residence  of  a  king,  but  which  was  subsequently 
turned  into  a  dwelling-place  for  robbers  and  desperadoes  of 
every  grade.  It  consequently  ceased  to  be  the  habitation  of  the 
king,  and  became  the  abode  of  the  lawless.  So  the  will  of  this 
ancient  people  was  no  longer  a  will,  but  a  lust  of  the  heart,  out 
of  which,  the  Lord  says,  "proceed  evil  thoughts,  murders, 
adulteries,  fornications,  thefts,  false  witness,  and  blasphemies."! 
Nor  was  the  will  alone  depraved;  the  understanding  became 
equally  corrupt.  While  the  love  of  good  passed  away  from  the 
former,  the  perception  of  truth  perished  in  the  latter.  IMen's 
thoughts  were  conjoined  with  the  evils  of  their  heart;  the 
imagination  of  the  one  favoured  the  lusts  of  the  other:  for  the 
function  of  willing,  and  the  power  of  thinking,  were  yet  as  one; 
so  that  every  imagination  of  their  thought  was  from  the  heart, 
consequently,  in  conformity  Avith  its  desires,  and  this  being  evil 
continually,  must  have  induced  corresponding  falsehoods  per- 
petually. What  a  state  of  horrible  corruption  had  thus  fast- 
ened itself  upon  the  human  character !  and  how  dreadfully 
abandoned  must  have  been  the  people  thus  treated  of !  Evils 
had  driven  out  goodness,  and,  seizing  upon  the  will,  directed  it 
^o  lust;  they  also  destroyed  the  perceptions  of  truth,  and,  per- 

*Gen.  vi.  5.  t  Matt.  xv.  19. 


THE    lord's    REPEXTAXC'E    AND    GRIEF.  279 

verting  the  understanding  by  falsehood,  infused  into  it  those 
dreadful  persuasions  and  deadly  phantasies,  which  finally 
brought  on  their  extinction,  as  by  the  suffocation  of  a  flood. 
This  condition,  produced  by  the  voluntary  action  of  the  people 
themselves,  in  opposition  to  all  those  orderly  influences  of  the 
Divine  purposes  and  principles,  which  are  exerted  to  impress 
and  maintain  the  excellence  of  religion,  led  to  these  remarkable 
expressions:  "And  it  repented  the  Lord  that  he  had  made  man 
upon  the  earth,  and  it  grieved  him  at  his  heart. ' '  * 

It  must  be  evident  that  this  description  of  the  Divine  senti- 
ments is  given  in  accommodation  to  the  appearance  which  arises 
before  man's  perverted  imagination.  The  sun,  when  seen 
through  a  fog,  is  red  and  dusky :  that  is  not  his  genuine  aspect. 
To  the  froward  the  Lord  appears  froward,  but  to  the  upright  in 
heart  he  appears  upright;  he  is  good  to  all,  and,  therefore,  the 
language  expressing  his  repentance  and  grief  must  be  understood 
to  signify  the  yearnings  of  the  Divine  mercy  and  compassion, 
in  reference  to  a  people  who  had  brought  themselves  into  such 
a  degraded  condition. 

Repentance  is  an  affection  of  the  mind  which  results  from  a 
consciousness  of  having  done  something  that  is  wrong,  and  grief 
is  a  feeling  produced  either  by  a  sense  of  our  own  transgression 
or  by  the  vices  of  others.  In  any  case,  they  imply  a  violation 
of  the  laws  of  virtue  and  the  discipline  of  intelligence;  there- 
fore it  is  evident  that  the  Lord  cannot  be  said  to  repent  and 
grieve  in  this  sense  of  the  terms.  He  cannot  do  anything  that 
is  wrong;  whatever  he  does  is  wise  and  good:  therefore  it  is 
written,  "  God  is  not  a  man,  that  he  should  lie;  neither  the  son 
of  man,  that  he  should  repent:  hath  he  said,  and  shall  he  not 
do  it?  or  hath  he  spoken,  and  shall  he  not  mal^e  it  good?"f 
Again,  "  The  Strength  of  Israel  will  not  lie  nor  repent:  for  he 
is  not  a  man,  that  he  should  repent."]:  It  therefore  follows 
that  the  repentance  and  grief  which  are  attributed  to  him  must 
be  understood  to  mean  his  Divine  mercy;  that  which  was  about 
to  become  manifest  in  the  establishment  of  a  new  covenant  with 
Noah;  and  which  was  to  provide  against  the  recurrence  of  such 
a  calamity  as  that  which  was  about  to  be  produced.  Men,  by  a 
misdirection  of  their  voluntary  powers,  bring  evil  upon  them- 

*Gen.  vi.  6.  f  Numb,  xxiii.  19.  J  1  Sam.  xv.  29. 


280  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIEATION. 

selves,  and  this  insinuates  falsehood  into  their  understanding; 
from  this  falsehood  they  think  God  brings  calamity  upon  them; 
and,  consequently,  when  they  experience  any  abatement  of 
punishment  which  evil  inflicts,  they  also  b(;gin  to  suppose  that 
God  is  repenting;  but  even  in  this  mistaken  view  of  the  subject 
there  is  included  an  idea  of  the  Lord's  mercy.  The  Scriptures 
frequently  represent  the  goodness  of  God  to  us  under  this 
peculiar  aspect;  and,  indeed,  it  is  founded  in  the  very  nature  of 
the  circumstance.  When  the  Jews,  by  their  abandonment  of 
the  Lord,  and  their  following  of  other  gods,  brought  themselves 
into  distresses,  they  commonly  attributed  those  evils  to  the 
angry  visitations  of  the  Almighty;  and  when  they  returned  to 
him  by  a  penitent  observance  of  his  precepts,  and  thereby  came 
into  the  enjoyment  of  his  blessings,  they  considered  that  he  was 
repenting  of  the  evil  which  they  erroneously  believed  that  he 
had  brought  upon  them. 

Nor  has  this  mistaken  notion  of  God's  procedure  been  con- 
fined to  the  Jewish  nation  only.  Similar  ideas  form  a  part  of 
the  religious  history  of  most  people  in  times  of  calamity. 
Famines  and  pestilences,  which  have  not  unfrequently  been 
produced  by  avarice,  ignorance,  idleness,  filth,  and  "man's 
inhumanity  to  man,"  have  been  very  commonly  ascribed  to  the 
vengeance  of  God;  and  upon  this  principle  he  has  been  prayed 
to,  to  remove  the  afflictions.  But  in  the  midst  of  such  dis- 
tresses, sensible  men  have  found  it  necessary  to  bestir  them- 
selves, and  look,  with  scrutinizing  eyes,  for  the  natural  causes  of 
such  results.  Hence  the  land  has  been  cultivated  more  scien- 
tifically and  to  a  greater  extent,  nuisances  have  been  removed, 
restrictive  laws  have  been  repealed,  and  superior  attention  given 
to  personal  and  residentiary  cleanliness;  the  consequences  of 
which  have  been,  that  the  famine  has  been  stayed,  the  pesti- 
lence abated,  and  God  supposed  to  have  repented;  that  is,  to 
have  turned  away  the  fierceness  of  his  wrath.  But  whoever 
will  venture  to  look  beneath  the  surface  of  such  appearances, 
must  see  that  God  cannot  have  undergone  any  change  of  dis- 
position in  all  these  painful  vicissitudes  of  men.  If  they  neglect 
or  transgress  his  laws,  they  bring  calamity  thereby  upon  them- 
selves. If  they  obey  his  laws,  they  open  the  channel  for  the 
incoming  of  his  blessings.     He  is  the  same  yesterday,  to-day. 


DISTINCTION    BETWEEN    REPENTANCE    AND    GRIEF.  281 

and  for  ever.*  He  is  essential  love  and  goodness,  and  never 
brings  affliction  upon  men.  They  are  the  authors  of  their  own 
distresses,  either  by  an  ignorance  of  God's  laws,  or  by  the  wil- 
ful transgression  of  them:  in  either"  case,  the  consequence  in 
this  life  will  be  the  same, — in  the  life  to  come,  the  ignorant 
neglecter  may  be  excused,  but  the  wilful  transgressor  will  be 
condemned.  Fury  is  not  in  God,  and  he  changeth  not.f  He 
is  ever  waiting  to  be  gracious:  but  men  must  comply  with  the 
laws  and  conditions  for  receiving  grace,  or  it  cannot  be  commu- 
nicated. Therefore,  any  improvements  in  our  condition  are 
not  to  be  attributed  to  the  Lord  having  turned  away  from  his 
anger  and  repented,  but  to  the  circumstance  of  man  having 
changed,  and  become  more  favourably  disposed  towards  him. 
It  is  upon  this  principle  that  the  Lord  has  declared  by  the 
prophets,  "If  that  nation,  against  whom  I  have  pronounced, 
turn  from  their  evil,  I  will  repent  of  the  evil  that  I  thought  to 
do  unto  them  " ;  |  which  plainly  means,  that  if  the  people  im- 
prove their  states  by  a  renunciation  of  their  evil  ways,  they  will 
then  become  recipients  of  the  Divine  mercy:  and  therefore  the 
Psalmist,  when  treating  of  the  bountiful  goodness  of  the  Lord, 
says,  ' '  He  remembered  for  them  his  covenant,  and  repented 
according  to  the  multitude  of  his  mercies.  "§  Whence  it  is 
evident,  that  the  communication  of  mercy  is  that  which  is 
meant  by  the  Lord's  repentance. 

But  let  us  endeavour  to  penetrate  a  little  farther  into  the 
mental  philosophy  of  this  fact.  It  is  quite  clear  that  the  mercy 
of  God  is  exercised  with  a  view  to  produce  graces  in  men.  How 
then  are  those  graces  to  be  implanted,  so  long  as  evils  and  errors 
maintain  an  uppermost  position  in  their  character  ?  We  answer 
that  they  must  become  known  to  their  possessor,  and  be  re- 
pented of  by  him.  The  light  by  which  a  man  is  enabled  to 
see  his  sins  is  a  communication  from  the  Divine  mercy;  and 
the  power  whereby  he  is  enal^led  to  repent  of  them  is  from  the 
same  source;  so  that  this  Divine  principle  is  present  in  all  the 
phases  of  human  repentance.  Repentance  cannot  take  place 
in  a  man  without  the  presence  of  the  Divine  mere}';  and  it  is 

*Heb.  xiii.  8.  f  Isa.  xxvii.  4  ;  Mai.  iii.  6. 

i  Jer.  xviii.  8.  §  Psa.  cvi.  45. 


282  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

on  this  account  that  this  holy  principle  is  sometimes  so  denom- 
inated in  the  M'ord.  The  Divine  mercy  produces  human  re- 
pentance; this  is  a  good  which  leads  to  the  estal)lishment  of 
good  in  man,  hence  it  is  a  most  appropriate  expression,  under 
such  a  circumstance,  to  signify  that  mercy.  Moreover,  as  it 
has  been  intimated,  that  disorderly  state  of  a  man  which  needs 
repentance,  causes  an  appearance  in  him,  when  it  takes  place, 
as  though  the  Lord  were  becoming  more  favourably  disposed 
towards  him;  whereas  the  real  truth  is,  that  man  is  becoming 
more  favourably  disposed  towards  the  Lord.  The  change  is  in 
the  man,  and  not  in  God. 

The  mercy  of  the  Lord  consists  in  everything  which  he  does 
for  mankind  to  relieve  them  from  darkness  and  distress.  When 
they  fall  into  disorders  and  transgression,  he  does  not  withdraw 
his  tenderness,  but  he  pities  and  regards  them  with  mercy. 
The  punishment  which  the  wickedness  of  the  wicked  brings 
upon  themselves,  is  permitted  by  the  Divine  mercy,  because 
thereby  evil  is  to  be  checked  and  removed,  and  good  developed 
and  promoted.  The  happiness,  also,  which  is  enjoyed  ])y  the 
faithful  and  obedient  is  the  result  of  the  Divine  mercy,  because 
the  Lord  is  present  with  his  own  principles  in  them.  It  was  to 
such  that  he  said,  "  The  Spirit  of  truth  dwelleth  with  you,  and 
shall  be  in  you."  * 

The  mercy  of  the  Lord  is  essential,  infinite,  and  active  good- 
ness. But  all  human  ideas  of  this  mercy  are  formed  from  what 
we  know  of  this  principle  and  its  operations  among  mankind. 
If  men  did  not  form  their  ideas  of  the  Divine  principles  ac- 
cording to  their  own  apprehensions  of  them,  it  is  plain  that  no 
conception  at  all  could  be  obtained  concerning  them,  and  in 
that  case  they  would  be  left  without  instruction.  It  is  in  con- 
sequence of  man's  ideas  of  the  Lord's  infinite  principles  being 
formed  on  finite  notions  of  them,  that  merely  human  and  finite 
actions  are,  in  the  Scriptures,  so  frequently  attributed  to  the 
Lord.  He,  however,  is  not  a  man,  that  he  should  repent; 
nevertheless,  he  is  the  God  that  will  be  merciful,  and  when  he 
is  said  to  repent,  it  is  a  declaration  that  his  mercy  is  about  to  be 
displayed. 

The  same  general  remarks  apply  to   the  sentence,  ' '  and  it 

*  John  xiv.  17. 


MERCY    OF    LOVE    AND    MERCY    OF    WISDOM.  283 

grieved  him  at  his  heart. ' '  The  Lord  cannot  grieve  on  account 
of  anything  that  he  may  have  done.  On  the  completion  of  his 
works,  it  is  written,  that  lie  beheld  them  all,  and  pronounced 
them  to  be  very  good.  The  grief,  therefore,  which  is  predicated 
of  him,  must  be  intended  to  express  the  interposition  of  his 
mercy,  at  a  time  when  its  blessedness  was  about  to  be  rejected 
by  the  perversities  of  men;  and  thus  it  is  similar  to  his  repent- 
ance; for  repentance  includes  grief,  and  grief  indicates  re- 
pentance, so  that  both  terms  are  significant  of  the  Divine 
mercy,  yet  with  a  distinction  which  it  may  be  useful  to  explain. 
Although  the  Divine  mercy  is  ever  active  for  the  benefit  of 
men,  and  is  unfolding  itself  in  a  thousand  forms  of  beneficence 
and  use,  yet  upon  examination  it  will  be  found  to  operate  in  a 
twofold  manner,  including  the  intelligence  of  wisdom  as  well  as 
the  clemency  of  love.  Mercy,  without  the  intelligence  of  wisdom, 
would  be  blind;  and  without  the  clemency  of  love  it  would  be 
cold.  Now  it  is  this  twofold  or  distinctive  action  of  the  Divine 
mercy  which  is  intended  to  be  expressed  by  the  repentance  and 
grief  at  heart  Avhich  are  predicated  of  the  Lord.  By  repentance 
is  denoted  that  activity  of  the  Divine  mercy  in  which  wisdom 
is  the  most  conspicuous;  and  by  grief  at  heart,  that  in  which 
love  is  the  most  distinguished.  The  Divine  mercy,  indeed, 
always  includes  the  activity  of  these  principles  in  their  utmost 
fulness;  but  then  both  of  them  are  not  at  the  same  time  equally 
prominent  with  their  recipients.  Sometimes  one  and  some- 
times the  other  is  most  easily  observed.  For  instance,  in  the 
blessings  of  peace,  which  may  have  been  promoted  by  a  succes- 
sion of  wars,  we  at  once  recognize  the  love  of  the  Divine  mercy; 
but  the  wisdom  of  Divine  mercy  is  not  so  very  conspicuous  in 
the  wars  by  which  that  peace  may  have  been  secured.  So  Ave 
can  see  the  love  of  the  Divine  mercy  in  creation  and  redemption; 
but  the  wisdom  of  the  Divine  mercy  in  the  means  is  not  so  evi- 
dent. We  perceive  that  there  is  love  in  the  Divine  mercy  which 
has  provided  and  declared  that  there  is  a  heaven  for  the  good  of 
the  human  race;  but  we  do  not  so  clearly  see  the  wisdom  by  which 
it  has  become  necessary  to  surround  the  nature  of  that  kingdom 
with  some  obscurity.  Persons  who  are  rescued  from  dangers, 
or  the  perils  of  death,  are  said  to  be  providentially  saved.  The 
love  of  the  Divine  mercy,  in  such  cases,  is  very  evident;  but  the 


284  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

wisdom  involved  in  it  is  surrounded  with  haze  and  mist,  par- 
ticularly when  others  are  known  to  have  perished  in  the  same 
calamity.  These  cases  show  very  satisfactorily  that  the  wisdom 
and  love  included  in  the  Divine  mere}'  are  variously  manifested, 
according  to  the  varying  circumstances  in  which  they  operate; 
and  consequently  we  learn  that  those  two  terms,  repentance 
and  grief  at  heart,  are  significant  of  the  wisdom  and  love  which 
are  always  included  in  the  activities  of  the  Divine  mercy,  and 
these,  in  the  circumstance  before  us,  are  very  evident. 

That  to  repent  has  respect  to  the  wisdom  of  mercy,  and  that 
grief  at  heart  has  reference  to  the  love  of  mercy,  may  also  in 
some  measure  appear  to  those  who  will  venture  to  reflect  a 
little  beneath  the  surface  of  the  expressions.  In  that  case  re- 
pentance will  be  found  to  be  an  affection  of  the  understanding, 
produced  therein  by  the  implantation  of  truth  when  errors 
prevail;  and  grief  at  heart  will  be  seen  to  be  a  sensation  of  the 
will,  induced  therein  by  the  insemination  of  good  when  evils  are 
urgent.  Those  who  receive  truth  into  their  understandings, 
and  by  the  light  thereof  are  led  to  examine  and  acknowledge 
the  disorders  of  their  life,  are  in  a  condition  of  repentance; 
while  those  who  receive  good  into  their  wills,  and  by  the  influ- 
enges  thereof  are  made  to  experience  the  impurities  which  pre- 
vail, are  in  a  condition  of  grief.  Both  conditions  are  from  the 
activity  of  the  Divine  mercy,  though'  there  is  an  evident  dis- 
tinction betAveen  them;  the  former  arising  from  the  reception  of 
truth,  and  the  latter  from  the  reception  of  goodness.  So  that 
the  mercy  of  the  Lord,  signified  by  the  statement  of  his 
repentance,  consisted  in  the  manifestation  of  his  wisdom;  and 
that  which  is  denoted  by  his  grief  at  heart,  consisted  in  the 
display  of  his  love.  Hence,  for  the  Lord  to  repent  and  to  grieve 
that  he  had  made  man,  are  forms  of  expression  which  mean 
that  the  Divine  mercy,  under  both  aspects,  was  now  about  to 
become  conspicuous. 

Was  it  not  so?  Did  not  the  Lord  interpose  for  the  preserva- 
tion of  our  race  ?  Although  men  had  abandoned  themselves  to  the 
most  wicked  persuasions,  and  had  destroyed  within  them  the  fac- 
ulty of  perceiving  what  was  good  and  true;  notwithstanding  they 
had  voluntarily  brought  themselves  into  excesses  of  iniquity,  and 
were   upon  the  point  of  bringing  down  everlasting  destruction 


god's  interposition.  285 

upon  the  human  race,  yet  the  Divine  mercy  of  the  Lord  inter- 
posed to  hinder  the  catastrophe.  The  threatened  calamity  was 
prevented,  and  mankind  have  been  preserved.  This  could  not 
have  been  the  case  if  the  Lord's  repentance  and  grief  that  he 
had  made  man,  meant  what  a  superficial  understanding  of  the 
terms  seems  to  imply.  He  surely  would  not  have  perpetuated 
the  existence  of  that  which  had  afflicted  him  with  regret  and 
sorrow.  Man  remains,  and  it  is  true  that  he  has  continued  to 
live  in  evils,  but  then  the  evils  are  not  of  God's  origination, 
nor  are  they  perpetuated  by  Him;  therefore,  he  can  have 
nothing  to  repent  of:  but  man,  having  both  produced  the  evils 
and  continued  them,  has  become  a  perpetual  sul)jcct  of  God's 
mercy;  hence  this  is  plainly  what  is  meant  by  those  penitential 
expressions.  The  interposition  of  God  for  the  purpose  of  con- 
tinuing our  species  at  a  period  when  mankind  had  sunk  so 
deeply  into  spiritual  wickedness,  evinces  most  conspicuously  the 
merc}^  of  the  Lord,  in  regard  to  his  wisdom  and  his  love.  Man 
was  preserved,  not  to  perpetuate  the  evil,  but  that  he  might 
have  the  opportunity  of  attaining  good  by  the  rejection  of  evil, 
and  so  become  the  recipient  of  God's  mercy. 

But  while  it  is  evident  that  the  interposition  of  God,  for  the 
perpetuation  of  man  upon  the  earth,  was  an  act  of  Divine 
mercy,  in  what  did  that  interposition  consist?  It  could  not 
have  been  an  act  independently  of  the  state  of  man.  God  does 
not  operate  among  his  people  like  a  tyrant;  he  acts  like  a  father, 
and  pitieth  those  who  fear  him:  and  we  find  that  there  yet 
remained,  among  the  last  posterity  of  this  profligate  people, 
some  who  did  so.  ' '  Noah  found  grace  in  the  eyes  of  the  Lord  ' ' ; 
and  the  Lord  said  unto  him,  ' '  Thee  have  I  seen  righteous 
before  me  in  tliis  generation."  *  These  statements  disclose  to 
us  the  existence  of  a  qualification  for  the  reception  of  the  Divine 
favours.  This  qualification  consisted  in  a  capacity  for  the 
understanding  of  truth,  when  presented  in  a  form  suitable  to 
man's  state.  He  could  no  longer  be  approached  1)}^  an  internal 
way:  he  had  closed  the  interiors  of  his  mind  against  those  celes- 
tial influences  which  had  originally  reached  him  from  within, 
and,  therefore,  a  medium  for  approaching  him  by  instruction 
from  without  was  promised,  and  provided  in  the  covenant  that 
*  Gen.  vi.  8  ;  vii.  1. 


286  THE    \VORD    AKD    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

was  about  to  ])e  estalilished  with  Noah.  This,  as  a  new  cove- 
nant, consisted  in  a  new  method  of  comniunication  from  God  to 
man;  in  the  adaptation  of  Divine  truth  to  that  external  capacity 
for  its  comprehension,  which  ai)pears  to  have  been  retained 
among  the  people  called  Noah  and  his  family,  and  signified 
by  the  statement  that  he  found  grace  in  the  eyes  of  the  Lord. 

The  human  race  have  since  that  period  been  instructed  in  the 
things  of  faith,  charity,  and  religion,  by  an  external  revelation; 
that  is,  a  revelation  partaking  of  a  documentary  character,  and 
adapted  to  their  external  capacities  for  appreciation.  Thus,  at 
the  time  of  Noah,  the  mental  constitutions  of  the  people  were 
different  from  what  they  had  been  in  preceding  ages.  The 
people  in  the  better  times  of  those  ages  enjoyed  perception;  that 
is,  an  internal  impression  and  discernment  concerning  hol}^  and 
heavenly  things:  they  felt,  from  an  internal  dictate,  what  were 
right  and  excellent;  and  this,  to  them,  was  instead  of  a  docu- 
mentary revelation.  But  in  tlie  days  of  Noah  this  state  per- 
ished, and  then  that  new  method  of  communication  with  man, 
of  which  we  have  spoken,  was  begun.  Thus  the  knowledges  of 
religion  have  been  preserved,  and  man's  acquaintance  with  them 
has  been  also  maintained;  hence  we  see  the  mercy  of  the  Lord 
as  manifested  in  the  provisions  of  that  new  covenant, — that  new 
characteristic  of  revelation,  and  consequent  church,  by  which 
so  important  a  result  has  been  accomplished.  Unless  there  be  a 
communication  kept  up  between  the  Lord  and  man,  man  must 
perish.  It  may  vary  in  its  form, — it  may  be  by  an  internal 
dictate  and  impression,  as  was  the  case  with  Adam  and  his  im- 
mediate posterity;  or  it  may  be  by  documentary  declarations, 
as  it  has  been  in  subsequent  ages.  Nevertheless  its  existence, 
in  some  form,  is  indispensable  to  the  perpetuation  of  man.  It 
was  because  this  communication  had  ceased  with  the  principal 
part  of  the  people  of  the  later  antediluvian  periods,  that  they 
perished  in  the  catastrophe  called  the  flood. 

Here  we  close  this  chapter.  We  liave  endeavoured  to  rescue 
the  points  that  have  been  handled  from  the  marvellous  and 
incomprehensible  character  winch  they  present  in  their  merely 
literal  structure;  and  we  have  shown,  that  in  their  esoteric  sense, 
they  present  a  reasonable  view  of  human  nature,  and  of  God's 
dealings  with  men,  and  so  commend  themselves  to  our  faith  in 
them,  as  portions  of  God's  Holy  ^^'ord. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

THE   ARK— NOAH  AND   HIS   FAINIILY  ENTERING   INTO  IT— THE 
BEASTS  PRESERVED  THEREIN. 

"  Those  who  have  written  professedly  and  largely  on  the  subject,  have  been  at  great 
pains  to  provide  for  all  the  existing  species  of  animals  in  the  ark  of  Noah,  show- 
ing how  they  might  be  distributed,  fed,  and  otherwise  provided  for.  But  they  are 
very  far  from  having  cleared  it  of  all  its  difficulties,  which  are  much  greater  than 
they,  in  their  general  ignorance  of  natural  history,  were  aware  of."— Kitto's 
"Cyclojyoedia  of  Bib.  Lit.,"  Art.  Ark,  Noah. 

To  provide  for  the  continuation  of  mankind,  by  saving  some 
from  the  flood  that  was  about  to  overwhehn  the  general  popula- 
tion of  the  antediluvian  world,  Noah  was  directed  to  make  an 
ark  of  certain  dimensions,  having  three  stories,  with  one  door 
in  the  side  and  one  window  aljove,  for  the  whole;  and  having 
finished  what  was  thus  commanded  him,  ' '  the  Lord  said  unto 
him.  Come  thou  and  all  thy  house  into  the  ark;  for  thee  have  I 
seen  righteous  before  me  in  this  generation.  Of  every  clean 
beast  thou  shalt  take  to  thee  by  sevens,  the  male  and  his  female: 
of  beasts  that  are  not  clean  by  two,  the  male  and  his  female: 
of  fowls  also  of  the  air  by  sevens,  the  male  and  the  female;  to 
keep  seed  alive  upon  the  earth.  For  yet  seven  days,  and  I  will 
cause  it  to  rain  upon  the  earth  forty  days  and  forty  nights;  and 
every  living  substance  that  I  have  made  will  I  destroy  from  off 
the  face  of  the  earth."*  The  subjects  announced  in  the  literal 
sense  of  this  history  have  always  been  considered  exceedingly 
difficult  to  comprehend.  To  science  they  appear  inexplicable; 
to  religion  they  seem  miraculous.  For  ages  they  have  been 
placed  in  the  niches  of  a  misty  faith;  and  the  effort  to  under- 
stand them  has  not  unfrequently  been  denounced  as  infidel  and 
presumptuous.  Ecclesiastical  authorities  of  a  bygone  period, 
having  committed  themselves  to  a  certain  course  of  thinking 
upon  these  subjects,  have  succeeded  in  fastening  their  notions 

*Gen.  vii.  1-4. 

287 


288  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

of  them  upon  tlie  minds  of  the  multitude;  and  their  descend- 
ants in  later  times  have  found  it  more  convenient  to  stigmatize 
the  doubter  of  their  views  with  an  odious  name,  than  to  remove 
his  scruples  or  satisfy  his  inquiries  with  information.  The  few 
who  have  thought  upon  the  popular  views  of  those  matters,  and 
ventured  to  question  their  accuracy,  have  been  treated  as  un- 
friendly to  revelation  by  the  many  who  have  not  thought  at  all 
upon  the  subjects.  The  populace  are  led  more  by  passion  than 
by  reason,  and  they  are  too  frequently  influenced  more  by  those 
who  hold  offices  of  authority,  than  by  the  dignity  of  their  own 
thinking.  If  men  would  receive  religious  knowledge,  and  im- 
prove their  own  intellectual  condition,  they  must  reflect  for 
themselves.  It  is  that  which  they  make  their  own,  by  an  effort 
of  their  own  mind,  which  remains  and  endures  with  them. 
They  take  nothing  with  them  into  the. other  life  which  has  not 
been  incorporated  into  their  affections  and  thoughts  during  their 
abode  below.  The  profession  to  believe  the  dogmata  of  faith, 
upon  the  authority  of  others,  is  not  a  belief  in  the  thing  pro- 
posed, but  in  the  persons  proposing;  and  such  a  belief  is  rather 
a  reliance  upon  man  than  a  faith  in  God.  It  is  of  importance 
that  this  circumstance  should  be  reflected  on:  those  who  desire 
wisdom  will  do  so;  those  who  prefer  to  remain  without  it  will 
culpably  neglect  this  duty.  But  wisdom  is  not  to  be  moved 
from  her  pedestal  by  the  clamour  of  ignorance.  She  looks  with 
pity  upon  the  crowd  who  receive  a  certain  opinion  for  no  other 
reason  than  because  authority  has  propounded  it,  or  that  their 
fathers  believed  it;  and  she  is  ever  read}^  to  afford  assistance  to 
all  who  wish  to  form  their  faith  upon  a  holier  and  a  sounder 
basis. 

There  is  a  great  distinction  between  believing  the  Scriptures, 
and  believing  what  men  have  said  to  be  contained  in  them.  It 
is  well  known  that  some  authorities  have  declared  the  Word  to 
present  a  variety  of  dogmata  for  the  faith  of  men,  which  other 
tribunals,  of  equal  character  and  intellect,  have  not  been  able 
to  discover.  But  it  does  not  follow,  because  one  man  cannot 
find  another  man's  conceit  in  the  Bible,  that  therefore  he  does 
not  believe  in  the  Bible  itself.  This,  however,  is  what  prejudice 
and  clamour  would  lead  the  multitude  to  think.  The  Scrip- 
tures may  be  fully  believed  to  be  the  Word  of  God,  although 


THE  WOKU  OF  GOD  A  WORK  OF  GOD.  289 

certain  vieAvs  which  men  have  taken  of  its  statements  may  be 
intelHgently  and  conscientiously  rejected.  The  Bible,  and 
men's  interpretation  of  it,  are  very  frequently  two  different 
things.  In  many  points  they  have  been  so  for  several  ages. 
Conjectures  and  ingenious  speculations  are  among  the  chief 
sources  through  which  the  difficult  narratives  of  revelation  are 
commonly  explained.  This  is  the  origin  of  those  various 
opinions  concerning  them  which  the  differing  sections  of  Christi- 
anity prove  to  exist.  For  a  long  period  men  have  not  sus- 
pected that  the  Scriptures  are  written  according  to  a  fixed  law. 
It  seems  to  have  been  overlooked  that  the  Word  of  God  was  a 
work  of  God,  and  that,  therefore,  like  all  his  other  works,  it 
must  have  been  constructed  on  some  fixed  principles.  This, 
however,  is  the  case,  and  it  must  be  so  if  it  be  the  Word  of  God: 
and  it  can  no  more  be  accurately  interpreted  without  a  knowl- 
edge of  the  laws  and  principles  of  its  composition,  than  the 
works  of  God  in  the  stellar  universe  can  be  explained  without 
an  acquaintance  with  the  laws  and  mathematics  of  gravitation. 
The  nature,  objects,  and  phenomena  mentioned  in  the 
Scriptures  are  the  appropriate  symbols  of  spiritual  thoughts 
and  affections  pertaining  to  man;  and  those  spiritual  things  are 
what  the  natural  descriptions  are  intended  to  reveal.  The 
world  of  matter  is  an  emblem  of  the  world  of  mind,  and  God 
has  chosen  the  former  as  the  means  for  disclosing  the  facts  and 
circumstances  relating  to  the  latter.  Some  portion  of  the  letter 
of  the  Scriptures  consists  of  national  history,  as  is  the  case  with 
what  is  said  of  the  Jewish  nation;  but  there  are  cases  of  merely 
emblematical  history,  the  chief  of  which  is  that  portion  of  the 
Word  which  precedes  the  time  of  Eber,  mentioned  in  the 
eleventh  chapter  of  Genesis.  We  discriminate  between  the 
actual  and  the  emblematical  history,  but  regard  both  to  be  of 
equal  weight  and  authority,  as  to  their  Divine  origination  and 
spiritual  purpose.  The  narrative  of  the  flood,  and  all  the  par- 
ticulars that  are  grouped  therewith,  we  look  upon  as  factitious 
history  only,  embodying  indeed  a  revelation  from  God,  and  in- 
tended to  make  known  certain  moral  and  spiritual  events  con- 
nected with  the  corruption  of  an  ancient  people.  We  receive 
the  narrative  as  one  which  has  been  produced  under  the  Divine 
superintendence  and  direction.  We  cherish  it  as  a  portion  of 
21 


290  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

God's  revelation  to  man.  But  we  do  not  believe  that  literal 
interpretation  which  has  long  prevailed  concerning  it.  We  do 
not  mistake,  as  is  the  common  and  popular  course,  the  figura- 
tive terms  for  the  real  meaning.  We  discriminate  between  the 
figure  and  the  thing  which  is  signified.  It  is  admitted,  by  all 
candid  minds,  that  the  subject  of  the  ark,  with  its  remarkable 
contents,  presents  very  embarrassing  ideas  to  a  rational  under- 
standing. ]\Iuch  labour  and  some  ingenuity  have  been  em- 
ployed in  the  attemj^t  to  explain  the  arrangements  of  the  ark, 
so  as  to  adapt  it  for  the  reception  of  seven  pairs  of  clean  animals, 
and  two  of  the  unclean,  of  all  the  earth,  besides  the  room  neces- 
sary for  eight  human  beings,  and  stowage  for  food  requisite  for 
upwards  of  twelve  months'  sustenance.*  The  success  has  not 
been  eciual  to  the  exertions.  Nor  has  it  ever  been  shown  how 
eight  persons  could  keep  in  order,  feed,  and  water  such  an  im- 
mense number  of  inmates.  Moreover,  if  the  ark  had  been  a 
natural  ship,  the  closing  of  the  window  and  the  door  (there  was 
but  one  of  each)  for  so  many  months  must  have  effectually 
prevented  the  admission  of  air,  which  is  now  known  to  be  so 
essentially  necessary  for  the  jireservation  of  health  and  life;  and 
the  respiration  of  the  multitude  of  inmates  must  have  com- 
pletely vitiated  that  which  was  within.  How,  then,  did  they 
survive?  Upwards  of  a  hundred  men  have  been  known  to 
perish  in  a  few  hours,  in  consequence  of  being  confined  in  a 
small  building,  to  which  a  sufficient  quantity  of  wholesome  air 
could  not  gain  access,  f  It  was  only  the  other  day  that  a  simi- 
lar calamity  occurred  to  a  number  of  passengers  in  a  ship,  from 
the  like  cause.     How  was  it,  then,  that  Noah,  his  family,  and 

*  Bishop   Wilkins  :    "Essay   towards    a    Philosophical    Character    and 

Language." 

fWhen  Calcntta  was  attacked  by  Suraja  ud  Dowlah,  the  viceroy  of  Ben- 
gal, in  1756,  the  English  factory,  which  had  been  removed  from  Hooghly, 
and  established  there,  was  deserted  by  the  governor,  the  commandant,  and 
many  other  European  functionaries  and  residents.  On  the  capture  of  the 
place,  the  English  who  had  remained  to  defend  the  factory  were  thrust  into 
a  small  unwholesome  dungeon,  called  the  Black  Hole,  and  of  146  individuals 
who  were  thus  shut  up  at  night,  only  23  were  found  alive  in  the  morning. 
The  cause  of  this  frightful  circumstance  was  the  presence  of  carbonic  acid 
gas,  produced  by  respiration  and  other  means,  for  which  there  was  no  escape, 
nor  any  sufficient  aperture  (or  tlie  admission  of  fresh  air. 


MAN    REQUIRED    TO    THINK    AND    REASON.  291 

the  numerous  beasts,  were  enabled  to  live  under  such  unfavour- 
able circumstances  ?  We  do  not  read  of  anj?-  provision  having 
been  made  for  ventilation,  which  must  have  been  absolutely 
necessary  to  preserve  the  lives  of  those  within.  Thus  sanitary 
science  suggests  new  difficulties  in  the  inquiry. 

However,  the  dimensions  of  the  ark  do  not  afford  sufficient 
room  for  the  accommodation  of  all  the  animals  of  the  earth. 
Those  who  have  supposed  there  was  space  enough,  have  consid- 
erably underrated  the  number  of  the  species  to  be  provided  for:* 
they  have  also  overlooked  many  other  circumstances,  which  a 
true  solution  of  the  problem  requires  to  be  carefully  remem- 
bered. Three  or  four  hundred  species  is  the  most  that  have 
ever  been  calculated  for;  whereas,  of  mammalia  alone,  there 
are  more  than  a  thousand  species;  of  birds,  fully  five  thousand; 
besides  reptiles,  of  which  there  are  upwards  of  two  thousand 
species  that  cannot  live  in  water,  and  at  least  a  hundred  thou- 
sand insects,  besides  millions  of  animalcula.  The  size  of  the 
ark  was  evidently  inadequate  to  stable  them :  nor  is  it  easy  to 
see  how  eight  persons  could  have  attended  to  them.  The  diffi- 
culties attending  the  collection  of  the  mammalia  and  birds  alone 
from  the  various  regions  of  the  earth,  and  introducing  them 
into  the  ark,  with  their  necessary  provision,  are  quite  sufficient 
to  suggest  that  there  is  some  very  considerable  error  in  the  cur- 
rent belief  upon  this  subject.  The  best  writers  have  been  led  to 
abandon  the  idea  that  species  of  animals  of  all  the  earth  were 
collected  in  the  ark,  and  to  suppose  that  they  were  only  such 
as  inhabited  the  regions  where  man  was  located,  f  These,  indeed, 
are  concessions  to  science  and  enlightened  inquiry;  and  farther 
investigation  will  show  it  to  be  requisite  to  take  an  entirely 
different  view  of  the  whole  subject. 

Those  who  receive  the  literal  sense  merely,  have  an  easy 
method  for  removing  objections.  They  say  that  God,  who  can 
do  everything,  could  have  had  no  difficulty  in  providing  against 
those  things  which   may  seem   obstacles  to  science,  reason,  or 

*  Le  Pelletier,  a  merchant  of  Kouen,  proposed  towards  the  close  of  the  last 
century  a  plan  for  building  a  vessel  in  which  all  kinds  of  animals  might  be 
included  and  maintained  for  a  year. 

t  Dr.  Pye  Smith,  Bishop  StillingfJeet,  Matt.  Poole,  Le  Clerc,  Rosenmiiller, 
Sic,  &c. 


292  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

philosophy.  They  assert  that  the  whole  affair  must  have  been 
easy  to  Him  to  whom  all  things  are  possible.  Of  course  this 
silences  inquiry;  and  there  is  no  arguing  with  those  who  will 
not  reason.  We  do  not  address  ourselves  to  such.  Those  who 
admit  these  j^rinciples,  deprive  themselves  of  all  ground  for 
resisting  the  belief  of  any  physical  extravagance  that  may  be 
propounded  to  them.  Such  principles  are  favourable  neither  to 
sound  piety  nor  to  intelligence.  They  close  the  mind  against  a 
candid  investigation  of  that  which  God  has  said  in  his  Word. 
This  is  contrary  to  the  benevolent  design  of  Him  who  said, 
"  Come,  let  us  reason  together."* 

To  avoid  those  difficulties,  and  to  obtain  a  clearer  insight  into 
the  meaning  of  this  remarkable  history,  we  must  remember  a 
point  which  has  been  attempted  to  be  set  forth  in  a  preceding 
chapter,  namely,  that  with  the  Noachic  people  the  understanding 
was  separated  from  the  will,  by  which  means  they  became 
admissive  of  external  instruction  concerning  spiritual  and  re- 
ligious things,  hence  they  found  grace  in  the  eyes  of  the  Lord, 
and  became  the  subjects  of  His  covenant.  The  internal  chan- 
nels of  immediate  communication  from  the  Lord  had  been 
closed  by  the  corruption  of  the  will.  When  this  took  place, 
the  understanding  was  mercifully  separated  from  tlie  will,  in 
order  to  provide  a  medium  of  access  to  the  interiors  of  the  mind, 
through  instruction  presented  from  without.  This  was  a  new 
condition  in  man's  mental  structure,  Avhich  has  ever  since  been 
faithfully  preserved  in  him.  Hence  a  new  form  of  Divine  com- 
munication was  adopted,  and  spoken  of  as  the  covenant  that 
was  to  be  established  with  Noah  and  his  seed  after  him,  also 
with  every  living  creature  that  was  with  him.f 

Remembering  this  point,  Ave  shall  at  once  be  prepared  to  enter 
into  the  meaning  of  the  command,  "  Make  thee  an  ark  of  gopher 
wood;  rooms  shalt  thou  make  in  the  ark,  and  shalt  pitch  it 
within  and  without  with  pitch.  "|  We  consider  this  direction 
to  refer  to  the  construction  of  a  certain  state  of  the  human  mind, 
and  the  orderly  arrangement  of  its  internal  principles,  through 
which  a  church  might  exist,  and  by  wdiich  preservation  from 
evil  and  the  reception  of  good  were  to  be  provided  for;  and  iiot 
to  the  building  of  a  wooden  vessel.  If  that  had  been  the  case, 
*  Isa.  i.  18.  t  Gen.  ix.  9,  10.  J  Gen.  vi.  14. 


THE    "ark"    and    "flood"    SPIRITUAL   THINGS.  293 

tlie  purpose  of  such  an  erection  could  not  have  been  concealed. 
It  was  an  extraordinary  undertaking,  requiring  for  its  execution 
a  large  number  of  workmen,  and  no  inconsiderable  jDecuniary 
resources  to  procure  the  materials  and  reward  the  labour;  it 
therefore  must  have  excited  curiosity  and  inquiry.  Noah  did 
not  receive  any  instruction  to  conceal  the  knowledge  of  the  pre- 
dicted flood  from  the  people,  nor  the  means  which  he  had  been 
commanded  to  adopt  for  his  own  safety;  and,  therefore,  it  is 
reasonable  to  suppose  tliat  the  purpose  of  the  erection  must 
liave  obtained  extensive  publicity.  How  is  it,  then,  that  we 
do  not  find  the  slightest  intimation  of  other  parties  endeavour- 
ing to  save  themselves  from  the  impending  catastrophe  by  build- 
ing vessels  for  the  purpose?  It  may  be  replied,  although  they 
might  have  been  made  acquainted  with  the  ^jrediction  of  the 
approaching  flood,  that  their  evil  lives  prevented  them  from 
having  any  faith  in  its  realization;  and  the  Lord's  observation, 
"  The}''  knew  not,  until  the  flood  came,  and  took  them  all 
away,"  may  be  adduced  as  the  evidence  of  such  unbelief;  and 
this,  it  may  be  argued,  was  the  reason  why  they  did  not  make 
any  provision  for  their  safety.  Be  it  so;  and  one  objection  is 
removed.  The  love  of  life,  however,  is  very  ardent,  even  among 
the  most  abandoned;  and  if  it  were  known  to  them  (and  this 
can  hardly  be  doubted)  that  a  vessel  had  been  built  to  save  a 
certain  family  from  an  approaching  flood,  it  is  reasonable  to 
suppose  that  upon  the  rising  of  the  waters  the}^  would  have 
become  alarmed,  and  instantly  have  betaken  themselves  to  the 
ark  for  safety.  Under  such  circumstances,  they  would  not  have 
been  deterred  by  any  delicacy  about  entering  another  man's 
property;  and  if  room  were  wanted  for  their  accommodation,  it 
is  not  likely  that  they  would  have  hesitated  to  make  it,  by 
removing  some  of  the  animals  and  their  provender.  Human 
life  is  more  precious  than  the  beasts,  and  its  preservation  would 
be  chiefly  aimed  at:  nor  would  the  owner  of  such  a  vessel  have 
thrust  them  away  in  such  an  effort,  if  he  had  been  a  good  man. 
This  we  say  is  a  highly  reasonable  view  of  the  case,  supposing 
the  ark  to  have  been  a  natural  vessel.  The  dismay  which  must 
have  overtaken  the  inhabitants  it  is  not  easy  to  imagine:  the 
horror  which  must  have  distressed  the  living,  and  the  agonizing 
shrieks  that  would  have  proceeded  from  the  dying,  must  have 


294  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

been  exquisitely  frightful:  surely  sueh  circumstances  must  have 
constituted  the  very  terror  of  the  story,  if  it  had  been  a  physical 
occurrence;  yet  there  is  not  the  slightest  intimation  concerning 
them.  It  is  not  easy  to  conceive  a  reason  for  omitting  such 
descriptions,  nor  do  we  think  they  would  have  been  left  out,  if 
the  event  had  been  such  as  it  is  currently  supposed. 

Doubtless  the  Lord  said,  ' '  As  the  days  of  Noe  were,  so  shall 
also  the  coming  of  the  Son  of  man  be.  For  as  in  the  days  that 
were  before  the  flood  they  were  eating  and  drinking,  marrying 
and  giving  in  marriage,  until  the  day  that  Noe  entered  into  the 
ark,  and  knew  not  until  the  flood  came,  and  took  them  all 
away;  so  shall  also  the  coming  of  the  Son  of  man  be."*  But 
the  ' '  ark  ' '  and  ' '  flood  ' '  mentioned  in  this  passage  are  no 
proofs  that  they  were  natural  things.  To  regard  them  as  repre- 
senting certain  spiritual  things,  pertaining  to  the  mind,  answers 
all  the  purposes  of  the  argument  they  are  introduced  in  the 
gospel  to  sustain.  To  say  that  they  were  spiritual  things,  is 
not  to  say  that  they  were  less  real.  The  mere  circumstance  of 
mentioning  "Noe,"  the  "flood,"  and  the  "ark,"  offers  no 
explanation  of  the  sul)ject,  and,  therefore,  the  ideas  and  facts 
which  they  were  employed  to  express  in  the  original  narrative 
are  precisely  those  to  which  the  Lord  referred.  The  plain  scope 
of  the  passage  is  to  show  that  the  state  of  mankind  at  the 
coming  of  the  Son  of  man  would  be  similar  to  that  which  pre- 
ceded the  entrance  of  Noe  into  the  ark.  The  comparison  insti- 
tuted is  between  the  two  states  of  mankind;  and  the  revelation 
made  is  that  the  spiritual  life  of  religion  always  perishes  by 
similar  means;  namely,  by  yielding  to  the  love  of  self  and  the 
world,  and  neglecting  God  and  heaven.  The  means  by  which 
this  life  perishes  with  some,  and  is  preserved  with  others,  are 
spoken  of  in  the  Scriptures  under  a  variety  of  figures.  Thus, 
the  means  which  destroyed  the  spiritual  life  of  religion  with 
the  antediluvians,  is  described  to  have  been  a  flood;  the  means 
by  which  it  was  to  be  preserved  Avith  Noah,  is  represented  by 
his  entering  into  an  ark.  That  by  Avhich  it  was  extinguished 
with  the  inhabitants  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  was  "brimstone 
and  fire,"  but  that  by  whicli  Lot  and  his  family  were  saved 
from  the  conflagration,  was  the   instruction   and   guidance  of 

*  Matt.  xxiv.  37-39. 


WHAT    THE    ARK    REPRESENTED.  295 

two  angels.*  So  the  means  by  which  it  will  perish  with  some, 
under  the  Christian  dispensation,  are  described  as  the  darken- 
ing of  the  sun  and  moon,  and  the  falling  of  the  stars;  whereas 
its  preservation  with  others  is  to  be  accomplished  by  their  seeing 
the  Son  of  man  coming  in  the  clouds  of  heaven  with  power  and 
great  glory.  There  is,  then,  nothing  in  the  above  passage 
inimical  to  the  view  we  are  taking  of  the  general  subject. 

If  the  ark,  and  the  particulars  which  are  related  of  it,  had 
no  other  signification  than  the  letter  presents,  there  would  be 
nothing  at  all  religious  or  spiritual  in  the  account  of  them,  and 
consequently  they  would  be  of  no  more  value  to  mankind  than 
a  similar  histor}-  composed  by  profane  writers,  in  which  case  it 
would  be  a  kind  of  dead  letter.  But  these  are  ideas  which 
cannot  attach  to  any  portion  of  the  Lord's  Word;  therefore,  the 
ark,  with  its  construction  and  arrangements,  must  refer  to  some- 
thing that  is  spiritual  and  living, — something  pertaining  to  the 
mind  and  soul  of  man,  rather  than  to  his  body  and  the  world. 

The  literal  sense  of  the  narrative  is  not  sufficiently  clear  to 
have  led  the  "  orthodox  "  to  any  settled  opinion  concerning  the 
form  and  materials  of  the  ark.  The  word  here  employed  for 
the  ark  is  tebath,  not  aron,  which  is  used  to  express  the  ark  of  the 
covenant;  and  tebath  is  used  onh*  of  the  Noachic  vessel,  and  of 
that  in  which  Moses  was  preserved.!  Hence  Dr.  Geddes  |  and 
others  have  supposed  that  it  was  a  large  coffer  formed  of  twigs, 
like  basket-work!  and  covered  over  with  bitumen,  both  within 
and  without,  to  keep  out  the  water.  The  Greek  speaks  of  its 
material  as  ix  ^ukujv  rerfiayth'/wv  (ek  xulon  tetragonon)  of  square 
boards:  Jerome,  in  the  Vulgate,  calls  it  "planed  wood,"  and 
'  'pitched  wood, ' '  and  several  other  commentators  have  imagined 
that  it  was  built  of  several  sorts  of  wood,  though  only  one  is 
expressly  mentioned.  Thus,  even  those  who  abide  in  the  letter 
do  not  seem  to  know  what  the  letter  means.  A  popular  opinion 
respecting  its  form,  as  presented  in  ' "  orthodox ' '  pictures,  is 
that  it  was  a  kind  of  house  erected  in  a  boat;  for  which  idea, 
however,  there  is  no  foundation  in  the  narrative.  There  is 
nothing  about  the  description  to  suggest  that  it  was  a  regularly 

*  Gen.  xix.  15-22.  t  Exod.  ii.  3,  5. 

tSee  his  "Critical  Remarks."  pp.  67,  68. 


296  THE    WORD   AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

built  vessel,  and  all  that  is  fairly  to  be  inferred  from  the  evi- 
dence of  the  letter  is,  that  it  was  a  building  of  a  certain  wood, 
in  the  form  of  a  parallelogram.  But  what  is  the  meaning  of 
such  descriptions  ? 

We  conceive  them  to  refer  to  the  establishment  of  a  new 
Church,  for  which  the  people  under  the  name  of  Noah  were 
instructed  to  prepare.  The  Adamic  Church,  as  a  celestial  dis- 
pensation, was  about  to  perish,  and  now  the  Noachic  Church,  as 
a  spiritual  dispensation,  was  to  be  developed.  This  new 
Church,  of  course,  implied  a  new  state  of  mind  on  the  part  of 
those  who  were  the  recipients  of  its  principles.  Every  one 
sees  that  the  Church  is  as  an  ark,  in  which  men  are  to  be  saved 
from  spiritual  perils;  also  that  the  Church  which  so  saves  is  a 
state  of  the  affections  and  thoughts  implanted  in  the  mind. 
The  state  of  the  Church,  and  the  state  of  the  mind,  run 
parallel  to  each  other.  As  the  mind  sinks  down  by  corrupting 
loves,  the  Church  declines;  as  the  mind  improves  by  heavenly 
delights,  the  Church  advances:  so  that  whether  we  speak  of  a 
new  Church,  or  of  a  new  state  of  mind,  as  being  represented 
by  the  ark,  it  amounts  to  the  same  thing;  for  a  man  is  a  Church, 
in  consequence  of  his  mind  being  imbued  with  its  principles. 

The  mind,  considered  as  a  faculty,  consists  of  will  and  under- 
standing: of  will,  to  love  what  is  good;  of  understanding,  to 
comprehend  what  is  true.  These  have  been  the  characteristics 
of  mind  in  all  ages  posterior  to  the  time  of  Noah;  but  it  was 
with  that  people  with  whom  these  two  principles  first  came 
into  distinct  activity;  and  the  command  given  them  to  make 
the  ark,  under  the  perilous  circumstances  which  surrounded 
them,  has  some  practical  bearing  upon  a  like  duty  in  all  subse- 
quent times.  The  mind  of  man  is  a  spiritual  vessel,  created 
with  capacities  for  the  reception  and  preservation  of  the  spir- 
itual and  celestial  things  of  religious  life.  This  capability  of  the 
mind,  under  this  new  condition  of  its  existence,  was  now  to  be 
tested  and  developed;  but  this  was  no  ordinary  work.  The 
formation  of  the  mind,  considered  as  a  faculty,  with  the  use 
for  which  it  is  designed,  is  the  act  by  which  it  becomes  prop- 
erly a  mind;  and  the  building  up  of  this  ark,  so  as  to  render  it 
a  safe  vessel  in  times  of  storm  and  peril,  requires  much  care, 
instruction,  and  devotedness.     This  is  implied  in  the  directions 


SIGNIFICATION    OF   WOODS.  297 

given  to  Noah,  and  in  the  dangers  which  prevailed  before  they 
were  completed. 

But  this  ark  was  to  be  of  certain  dimensions,  and  to  be  made 
of  gopher  wood,  pitched  within  and  without.  These  particu- 
lars are  stated  to  represent  the  means  to  be  adopted,  in  order 
to  render  the  mind  a  safe  and  eiTectual  medium  for  the  right 
development  of  that  new  covenant  which  was  about  to  be 
established. 

The  kind  of  wood  denominated  gopher  has  not  been  satisfac- 
torily ascertained.  It  is  a  problem  for  the  Biblical  student. 
On  the  assumption  of  its  having  been  a  natural  production,  the 
name  has  been  supposed  to  designate  a  species  of  the  pine,  or 
perhaps  to  denote  several  species  of  it,  which  yielded  resin  and 
other  easily  inflammable  matter,  because  it  is  thought  that  they 
were  abundantly  produced  in  the  locality  where  the  ark  is  con- 
sidered to  have  been  erected.  Dr.  Geddes  thought  that  it  must 
have  been  the  osier  ;^^  Dr.  Mather  conjectured  that  it  was  the 
Juniperus  arbor  tetragonophyUos,  frequent  in  the  East  Indies,  f  The 
Chaldee  version  regards  it  to  have  been  the  cedar;  the  Arabic  ver- 
sion translates  it  saj,  which  is  considered  to  mean  the  teak ;  and 
others,  as  the  Vulgate,  say  it  was  the  cypress.  X  Here,  then,  are 
plenty  of  conjectures,  and  very  much  learning  has  been  em- 
ployed for  the  purpose  of  upholding  them.  Still  it  is  an  open 
question;  and  although  the  progress  of  science  may  conduce  to 
the  discovery  of  something  more  decided  upon  the  subject  than 
what  at  present  exists,  that  will  not  derogate  from  the  fact  of 
its  having  been  mentioned  chiefly  for  a  representative  purpose. 
Gopher  is  the  original  Hebrew  word,  without  any  attempt  to 
translate  it,  and  this  is  the  only  instance  in  which  it  occurs 
throughout  the  whole  Scriptures;  and  this  wood  is  here  men- 
tioned for  the  purpose  of  signifving  a  mental  condition,  which 
now  became  a  specialty  among  the  Noachic  people. 

It  is  well  known,  as  a  general  idea,  that  the  ancients  ^com- 

*  "  Critical  Remarks,"  pp.  67,  68.      f  Abr.  Phil.  Trans.,  vol.  vi.,  p.  86. 

X  Rosenmiiller  was  of  this  opinion.  He  considers  the  wood  gopher  to  have 
become  obsolete  and  fallen  into  disuse  among  the  later  Hebrews,  and  shows 
that  the  radical  consonants  in  "gopher''  and  "cypress"  are  substantially 
the  same:  he  also  thinks  it  probable  that  the  words  signify,  etymologically, 
"  a  resinous  wood." — '^^  Mineralogy  and  Botany  of  the  Bible,^'  Ait.  Gopher. 


298  THE   WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

pared  the  internal  things  of  orderly  men  to  gold,  silver,  brass, 
iron,  icoocl,  and  stone ;  but  it  has  not  been  so  frequently  ol)served 
that  such  comparisons  were  adapted  to  signify  different  states 
of  tlie  mind:  thus,  that  the  good  things  of  the  will  were  likened 
to  [/old,  brass,  and  wood;  and  the  true  things  of  the  under- 
standing to  silver,  iron,  and  stone.  Of  this  the  prophet  furnishes 
us  with  a  remarkable  example.  ' '  For  brass  I  will  bring  gold, 
and  for  iron  I  will  bring  silver,  and  for  wood  brass,  and  for  stones 
iroJi."*  Here,  to  bring  gold  for  brass,  and  brass  for  wood, 
plainly  denotes,  to  supply  the  Avill  of  those  who  are  being 
"  born  again,"  with  superior  good  for  the  inferior;  and  to  bring 
silver  for  iron,  and  iron  for  stone,  signifies,  to  supply  the 
understanding  of  those  who  are  regenerating,  with  superior 
truths  for  such  as  are  inferior.  Thus,  wood  in  general,  denotes 
the  lowest  degree  of  good  pertaining  to  the  will  which  may  be 
called  corporeal:  precious  woods,  as  the  cedar  and  the  like, 
signify  woods  of  a  higher  quality;  the  cedar  used  in  the  tem- 
ple f  had  this  signification,  so  also  had  that  which  was  em- 
ployed m  cleansing  the  leprosy;  |  also  that  wood  by  which  the 
bitter  waters  of  Marah  were  sweetened.  §  But  Avoods  which 
were  not  precious,  those  which  were  made  into  images,  1 1  and 
applied  to  the  making  of  funeral  piles, ^  signify  cupidities,  and 
among  these  are  to  be  classed  the  wood  of  gopher. 

This  wood,  then,  is  named  to  signify  that  peculiar  concupis- 
cence by  which  the  Noachic  peojole  Avere  distinguished,  and  from 
which  they  Avere  directed  to  construct  the  ark;  or,  what  amounts 
to  the  same  idea,  to  build  up  their  mind,  so  that  it  should  be 
as  a  vessel  fitted  for  the  reception  and  preservation  of  spiritual 
things. 

If  it  be  asked,  Hoav  can  concupiscence  afford  the  materials 
for  such  a  result  ?  Ave  ansAver,  that  it  does  so  much  in  the  same 
Avay  that  men  Avho  are  altogether  evil  can  become  regenerate. 

*  Isa.  Ix.  17.  t  1  Kings  v.  8. 

J  Lev.  xiv.  4,  G,  7.  ?  Exod.  xv.  25. 

II  "Among  the  trees,  of  whose  timber  idols  were  formed,  mention  is 
made,  in  Isa.  xliv.  14,  of  the  Orcn,  by  which  both  the  oldest  Greek  and  the 
oldest  Latin  translators  understood  the  pine  tree. " — Eosenviiiller,  "  Botany  of 
the  Bible,"  Art.  Pine  Trel. 

Tl  Isa.  xxx.'  33 


SIGNIFICATION    OF    THE    PITCHING    AND    MEASUREMENTS.      299 

They  possess  remains,  and  the  capability  to  evolve  them.  Men, 
at  the  commencement  of  their  regeneration,  do  not  listen  to 
spiritual  instruction  and  religious  duties  for  the  sake  of  their  in- 
trinsic excellence;  but  because  they  either  afford  gratification  to 
the  intellect,  or  because  they  furnish  information  by  which  to 
avoid  something  that  may  be  dangerous  to  self:  in  either  case 
some  advantage  will  l>e  gained;  and  all  the  early  states  of  man's 
religious  improvement  are  more  or  less  built  up  from  some  per- 
sonal and  selfish  consideration,  and  so  from  his  concupiscence. 
He  wishes  to  avoid  some  danger  or  procure  some  blessing;  but 
the  early  efforts  to  secure  these  things  will,  upon  examination, 
be  found  to  arise  from  something  that  is  low  and  selfish.  As, 
then,  the  Noachians  were  a  fallen  people  who  were  about  to  be 
regenerated,  we  may  readily  see  why  they  were  directed  to  make 
an  ark  of  gopher  wood.  Concupiscence  was  the  readiest  and 
most  abundant  material  of  which  they  could  command  the  use; 
but,  being  directed  to  religious  inquiries  and  purposes,  it,  under 
the  Divine  Providence,  resulted  in  safety.  It  was  making 
friends  of  the  mammon  of  unrighteousness,  in  order  to  be  re- 
ceived into  everlasting  hal^itations.  *  But  the  state  of  mind  so 
produced  admitted  both  the  clean  and  the  unclean  beasts  and 
fowl:  it  was  also  lial>le  to  grievous  temptation;  consequently, 
when  these  were  experienced  and  overcome,  the  ark  which  had 
been  constructed  of  such  materials  was  abandoned,  and  we  read 
no  more  about  it! 

It  was  commanded  that  the  ark  should  be  pitched  within  and 
without,  to  point  out  the  care  that  was  to  be  exercised  in  pre- 
venting falsehood  from  entering  into  the  mind,  either  by  impure 
excitement  from  without,  or  by  seducing  impulses  from  within. 
The  original  text  does  not  say  that  it  should  be  pitched  with 
pitch,  but  an  expression  is  employed  which  denotes  preserva- 
tion,! and  it  has  only  been  so  translated  in  consequence  of  its 
supposed  relation  to  a  natural  ark.  The  pitching  is  representa- 
tive of  preservation,  on  the  ground  of  its  natural  use  being  to 
exclude  both  the  entrance  and  emission  of  all  such  waters  as 

*  Luke  xvi.  9. 

t  "  It  is  derived  from  the  verb  to  expiate,  or  propitiate,  wherefore  the  same 
sense  is  implied;  the  Lord's  expiation,  or  propitiation,  is  protection  from  the 
overflowin<i*of  evil." — Arcana  CoeUsiia,  u.  645. 


300  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

would  endanger  personal  safety.  It  thus  denotes  that  means 
were  to  be  employed  by  which  the  mind  was  to  be  preserved 
from  the  inflowings  of  those  false  persuasions,  which  would 
cause  it  to  sink  and  perish. 

The  various  measurements  of  the  ark  were  intended  to  denote 
the  several  qualities  which  were  to  distinguish  the  mind  in  the 
progress  of  its  erection  or  development  into  a  saving  condition. 
These  are  similar  in  import  to  the  dimensions  which  are  given 
of  the  tabernacle,  the  temple,  the  mercy-seat,  the  altar,  and, 
especially,  the  new  Jerusalem,  which  is  said  to  be  the  measure 
of  a  man;  whence  it  is  evident  that  such  measurements  denote 
the  extent  of  mental  condition  in  reference  to  the  things  of  the 
Church.  Thus,  the  length  of  the  ark  had  reference  to  the  quality 
of  good  which  should  exist  in  the  will;  the  breadth  of  it,  to  the 
extent  of  truth  in  the  understanding;  and  the  height  of  it,  to  the 
elevated  origin  of  these  good  things,  which  is  the  Lord.  Every 
one  may  see  that  such  particulars  concerning  the  ark  are  given 
with  a  view  to  their  spiritual  import,  because  they  have  no  nat- 
ural or  scientific  value;  also,  because  without  such  a  significa- 
tion they  would  be  of  no  religious  use  to  mankind.  But  by 
drawing  aside  the  curtain  of  the  letter,  and  looking  into  the 
spiritual  sense,  we  at  once  discover  the  presence  of  a  Divine 
principle,  and  recognize  its  instructive  purpose.  The  spiritual 
sense  raises  us  into  the  intellectual  world:  the  letter  perplexes 
and  produces  doubts,  which  vanish  on  the  approach  of  spiritual 
light.  How  beautifully  true  is  the  apostolic  declaration,  "The 
letter  killeth,  l)ut  the  spirit  giveth  life  "  !  * 

While  all  the  details  respecting  the  construction  of  the  ark 
signify  particular  circumstances  connected  with  the  human 
mind,  during  the  process  of  its  reformation  and  preparation  for 
the  reception  of  spiritual  and  heavenly  things,  yet  the  popular 
view  we  are  solicitous  of  presenting  requires  that  Ave  should 
dwell  mostly  on  the  more  general  description.  For  instance, 
the  ark  was  to  have  "  rooms,"  "a  window  above,"  "a  door  in 
the  side,  with  lower,  second,  and  third  stories."  f 

Inasmuch  as  the  ark  is  mentioned  to  represent  a  certain  state 
of  the  human  mind  which  was  to  be  built  up  as  a  means  of 
deliverance  from  the  ills  which  threatened  desolation  to  sur- 
*  2  Cor.  iii.  (J.  f  Gen.  vi.  14,  16. 


THE    ROOMS    IN    THE    ARK.  301 

rounding  society,  it  will  follow  that  the  rooms  in  that  ark 
denote  the  two  faculties  of  will  and  understanding.  These, 
however,  are  very  general  distinctions,  each  of  which  is 
arranged  into  a  variety  of  others.  The  division  of  the  intellec- 
tual sentiments,  which  belong  to  the  understanding,  and  the 
distinction  of  moral  affections,  which  pertain  to  the  will,  are 
very  numerous.  Thus,  the  rooms  in  the  ark  denote  all  that 
variety  of  intellectual  and  moral  principles  which  are  built  up 
in  man  during  the  progress  of  his  regeneration;  the  numerous 
species  of  goodness  and  truth  occupy  their  respective  positions 
in  the  mind,  each  of  which  is  as  a  room  for  their  reception,  and 
all  are  arranged  according  to  their  relation  to  heaven  or  the 
world.  The  inferior  goods  take  up  their  residence  in  those 
lower  rooms  of  the  mind,  which  are  formed  by  information  and 
sciences;  the  superior  goods  enter  into  those  higher  capabili- 
ties, Avhich  are  formed  b}^  affection  and  intellect.  The  regen- 
erate man — he  with  whom  the  Lord  enters  into  conjunction — 
has  all  the  things  of  intelligence  and  duty  arranged  in  his  mind 
with  the  most  distinctive  order.  The  things  of  science,  ration- 
ality, pure  intellect,  and  affection,  have  each  their  respective 
mansions  in  the  human  mind.  They  have  their  appropriate 
rooms  in  the  ark.  It  is  in  consequence  of  the  minds  of  the 
regenerate  having  this  orderly  arrangement,  that  the  Lord  said 
of  them,  "  Behold,  the  kingdom  of  God  is  within  you  ";  *  also 
pronounced  that  kingdom  to  be  a  house  with  many  mansions. f 
It  is  easy  to  perceive  that  the  regenerated  mind  is  as  a  house  in 
which  the  Lord  dwelleth  with  its  possessor,  and  that  this  dwell- 
ing-place must  have  many  mansions,  each  of  which  is  intended 
for  the  reception  of  some  of  the  distinctive  varieties  of  truth 
and  goodness.  The  Lord  also  recognized  this  signification  of 
rooms  when  he  commanded  the  prophet  to  enter  into  his  cham- 
bers, and  there  remain  till  the  indignation  was  overpast:  |  like- 
wise where  he  directs  that  when  w^e  pray  we  should  enter  into 
our  closets;  §  for  by  chambers  and  closets  are  evidently  meant 
interior  but  different  principles  of  the  mind,  from  which  those 
distinctive  duties  are  to  be  performed.     Seeing,  then,  what  is 

*  Luke  xvii.  21.  f  T<ihn  xiv.  2. 

X  Isa.  xxvi.  20.  g  Matt.  vi.  6. 


302  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

Spiritually  meant  by  the  rooms  of  the  ark,  let  us  next  consider 
what  is  signified  by  the  window  above. 

By  this,  we  at  once  perceive,  is  denoted  the  intellectual  prin- 
ciple which  acknowledges  the  Lord  to  be  the  source  of  light. 
The  intellectual  principle  is  compared  to  a  window,  because  it 
is  that  by  which  tlie  light  of  truth  enters  in  to  illuminate  the 
whole  mind,  and  through  which  man,  as  it  were,  looks  out  to 
view  religion  and  contemplate  his  God:  and,  in  the  instance 
before  us,  it  is  said  to  have  been  above,  plainly  to  express  the 
idea  of  its  elevation  towards  the  Lord,  who  is  the  "true  Light 
which  lighteth  every  man  who  cometh  into  the  world."* 
Daniel  is  said  to  liave  prayed  to  the  Lord  with  his  windows 
open,f  to  represent  the  expansion  of  the  intellectual  principle 
during  his  solicitation  of  the  Divine  graces.  So,  likewise, 
Jeremiah  speaks  of  death  having  come  up  into  our  'windo\vs,  X 
to  signify  the  darkening  of  our  intellect  through  the  approach 
of  some  evil  influence.  The  analogy  existing  Itetween  the 
window  in  the  ark  above,  and  the  intellectual  principle  of  the 
mind  acknowledging  the  Lord  as  the  source  of  all  spiritual  light, 
is  very  remarkable  and  singularly  striking. 

But  there  was  also  to  be  a  door  in  the  side,  because  by  this  is 
denoted  the  inlet  of  hearing,  by  which  faith  enters.  Seeing 
and  hearing  are  two  common  entrances  into  the  mind;  the 
former  admits  ideas  through  an  intellectual  perception,  the 
latter  permits  them  to  enter  by  rneans  of  external  teaching.  It 
is  on  these  grounds  that  the  e3'e  is  sometimes  spoken  of  as  a 
window,  and  the  ear  as  a  door.  Hearing  is  as  a  door  through 
which  oral  instruction  passes  into  the  mind,  and  from  mind  to 
mind.  Every  one  is  aware  that  hearing  implies  the  entrance 
of  something  into  the  memory,  and  instruction  thence;  likewise 
reception  into  the  understanding,  and  the  formation  of  belief 
accordingly:  also,  to  receive  in  obedience  and  to  do, — for  all 
the  teachings  of  religion  have  relation  to  the  duties  of  life.  The 
reason  why  hearing  involves  these  things  is,  because  speech, 
which  enters  into  the  mind  by  means  of  hearing,  presents  itself 
to  the  intellect,  and  there,  according  to  the  efficacy  of  reason, 
of  the  power  of  persuasion  from  some  other  source,  it  is  retained, 

*  John  i.  9.  t  D<«ii-  ^'i-  10.  +  Jer.  ix.  21. 


thp:  three  stories  of  the  ark.  303 

believed,  and  obeyed.  Hence  it  is  tliat  hearing,  as  the  medium 
through  which  instruction,  the  knowledges  of  faith,  and  the  pre- 
cepts of  obedience,  enter  into  the  mind,  is  compared  to  a  door. 
So  that  hearing  is  as  a  door  in  the  side  of  the  ark,  or  human 
mind,  in  respect  to  the  window  that  is  above.  The  window  that 
is  above  admits  of  illumination  from  the  Lord,  thus  of  internal 
instruction;  but  the  door  which  is  on  the  side  is  the  common 
entrance  for  things  from  this  world,  thus  for  external  instruc- 
tion. These  two  inlets  of  knowledge,  one  from  above  and  the 
other  from  the  side,  are  indispensable  to  the  existence  of  the 
mental  ark, — that  condition  of  mind  in  which  we  are  to  be  pre- 
served in  good  and  saved  from  evil. 

But  it  was  farther  directed  that  this  ark  should  consist  of 
lowest,  second,  and  third  stories,  to  inform  us  that  there  are 
three  different  degrees  belonging  to  the  orderly  existence  of  a 
regenerated  mind.  Every  one's  experience  sufficiently  proves 
that  there  are  different  degrees  in  the  mind;  nor  can  it  require 
any  very  interior  reflection  to  discover  that  they  must  consist 
of  the  lowest,  the  middle,  and  the  highest.  This,  indeed,  as  a 
general  truth,  is  perfectly  intelligible;  and  a  little  consideration 
will  show  that  these  three  degrees  are  the  natural,  the  spiritual, 
and  the  celestial;  also  that  each  of  them  has  its  own  continuous 
elevation,  but  is  distinct  from  the  others. 

For  instance,  when  a  man  is  first  born  he  comes  merely  into 
the  natural  degree  of  his  mind,  and  this,  by  means  of  instruc- 
tion and  the  sciences,  is  successively  developed  and  increased. 
By  these  means  it  may  attain  to  a  considerable  elevation;  still, 
whatever  may  be  its  height,  it  will  ahvays  be  a  natural  degree, 
or  the  lowest  story  of  the  ark,  remaining  distinct  from  the  S})ir- 
itual,  Avhich  is  immediately  above  it.  No  expansion  of  the 
natural  degree  will  ever  open  out  the  spiritual;  that  is  effected 
l3y  another  process.  Hence  it  is  that  we  sometimes  meet  with 
persons  who  are  exceedingly  well  informed  in  most  things  per- 
taining to  the  world  and  nature,  but  who,  nevertheless,  have 
not  a  spiritual  idea  opened  in  their  mind,  — who  treat  the  exist- 
ence of  such  ideas  as  the  chimera  of  enthusiasts,  and  who,  in 
consequence,  think  nothing  of  religion  or  its  teachings.  Hence 
we  see  that  the  natural  degree  of  the  mind  is  that  which  is 
meant  by  the  lowest  story  of  the  ark. 


304  THE    WOKD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

The  middle  compartment  consists  of  the  spiritual  degree,  and 
this  is  begun  to  be  developed,  or  built  up,  as  a  man  begins  to 
reverence  the  truths  of  religion,  to  love  his  neighbour,  and  to  do 
good  to  societ}^  from  a  religious  principle  of  intelligence  and  use. 
The  love  of  our  neighbour  is  the  spiritual  principle  of  religion; 
consequently,  when  a  man  does  this,  the  spiritual  degree  of  his 
mind  is  unfolded:  and  this  may  go  on  increasing  in  its  elevation, 
through  the  accumulation  of  appropriate  knowledge  and  the 
application  of  it  to  use;  still  it  is  a  degree  which  must  always  be 
distinct  from  that  which  is  immediately  above,  and  thus  it  is 
the  second  story  in  the  ark. 

The  third  story  is  the  celestial  degree,  in  which  resides  the 
love  to  God  al)ove  all  things.  This  is  the  highest  degree  of  the 
human  mind,  Avherein  the  highest  things  of  religion  take  up 
their  abode,  and  which  in  itself  is  nearest  heaven;  those  who 
have  had  this  degree  opened  have  had  l)uilt  up  in  their  minds 
the  third  story  of  the  ark.  How  beautifully,  and  at  the  same 
time  how  satisfactorily,  do  these  facts,  relating  to  the  structure 
of  the  mind,  coincide  with  the  description  of  the  ark!  When 
thus  built  up,  it  becomes  the  distinguished  means  for  safety  and 
the  reception  of  blessings,  which  are  the  obvious  purposes  for 
which  it  was  commanded  to  be  raised. 

Let  us,  then,  in  the  next  place,  inquire  what  is  meant  by 
entering  into  it.  There  are  two  reasons,  both  of  which  have 
respect  to  the  necessary  qualification,  why  this  privilege  was 
granted  to  Noah.  First,  he  found  grace  in  the  sight  of  the 
Lord;*  and  second,  the  Lord  saw  him  righteous  before  him  in 
that  generation,  t  The  grace  is  said  to  have  been  found  in  him 
before  the  building  of  the  ark,  because  it  denoted  the  remains 
of  some  truth  by  which  it  was  to  be  accomplished:  but  the 
righteousness  is  ascril^ed  to  him  after  the  work  was  completed, 
because  that  expressed  a  state  of  good  which  resulted  from  obedi- 
ence to  the  command  for  building  it:  "  Noah  did  according  to 
all  that  the  Lord  commanded  him."  J  These  are  additional 
particulars  which  show  the  ark  to  have  been  significant  of  that 
new  development  of  mind,  which  was  necessary  for  the  appre- 
ciation of  that  new  Church  or  covenant  then  about  to  be  formed. 
The  Church  in  after  times  has  not  unfrcqucntly  been  called  the 

*  Gen.  vi.  8,  f  Gen.  vii.  1.  |  Gen.  vi.  22. 


THE    ENTRY    IXTO    THE    ARK.  305 

ark  of  God.  The  ark  of  the  covenant,  in  which  was  deposited 
the  law  delivered  to  Moses,  was  carried  by  the  sons  of  Israel  in 
their  travels  in  the  wilderness,  and  it  operated  with  them  as  a 
protection  from  danger  and  a  source  of  blessing.  The  reason 
was  because  it  represented  the  Church.  It  shadowed  forth  what 
ought  to  be  the  mind  of  the  people  of  this  pasture,  and  what 
would  be  its  results  when  properly  developed;  namely,  that  it 
ought  to  contain  the  commandments  of  God,  because  these 
preserve  from  evil  and  bless  with  good,  whenever  they  are  cher- 
ished as  the  inner  principles  of  religious  life  and  moral  guid- 
ance. It  was  also  for  this  reason  that  John  said,  ' '  The  temple 
of  God  was  opened  in  heaven,  and  there  was  seen  in  his  temple 
the  ark  of  his  testament  " ;  *  because  by  the  temple  in  heaven  is 
meant  the  universal  w^orship  and  acknowledgment  of  the  Lord 
which  prevail  in  that  kingdom,  and  the  ark  in  the  temple 
plainly  denotes  that  state  of  mind  in  which  has  been  deposited 
the  Divine  commandments,  and  from  Avhich  all  genuine 
acknowledgment  and  worship  arise.  The  human  mind  is  still 
a  human  mind,  though  it  may  exist  in  heaven!  God's  regard 
is  not  directed  to  a  senseless  ark  of  wood,  but  to  those  living 
mental  principles  Avhich  he  has  designed  for  the  reception  of  his 
precepts,  and  which  are  built  up  as  their  teachings  are  loved  and 
practised.  It  is  the  ark  thus  constituted,  of  which  the  Lord 
makes  use  to  save  mankind  from  the  influences  of  evil;  and 
Avhich,  when  so  built  up,  causes  the  builder  to  be  found  right- 
eous in  the  sight  of  the  Lord.f 

The  directions,  then,  which  were  given  to  Noah  and  his  house 
for  going  into  the  ark,  are  to  be  understood  as  instructions  for 
entering  into  the  interior  things  of  the  Church.  Men  are  said 
to  enter  into  that  which  they  understand  and  love:  hence,  upon 
the  same  principle,  the  Lord,  who  knows  and  regards  the  good 
of  the  human  race,  is  said  to  enter  into  them,  and  abide  with 

*  Rev.  xi.  19. 

t  Moses  is  said  to  have  been  placed  for  safety  in  an  ark  of  hulrnshes, 
Exod.  ii.  3,  because  he  represented  the  Divine  law  in  its  origin  ;  but  by  the 
ark  of  bulrushes,  in  which  he  was  preserved,  is  signified  that  literal  form, 
for  the  embodiment  of  the  Divine  law,  which  is  respectively  external  and 
worldly,  and  which  a  low  and  degraded  condition  of  mankind  had  rendered 
necessary — necessary  for  bringing  some  knowledge  of  that  law  down  to  man's 
perverted  apprehension,  and  at  the  same  time  to  protect  it  from  profanation. 
22 


306  THE    WORD    AiND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

them.*  '•  Behold,"  said  he,  "  I  stand  at  the  door  and  knock:  if 
any  man  hear  my  voice,  and  open  the  door,  I  will  come  in  to 
him,  and  sup  with  him,  and  he  with  me.  "f  If  men  love  what  is 
good  and  true,  they  enter  into  the  virtues  and  intelligences  which 
are  required,  and  these  will  preserve  them  from  dangers  and 
promote  their  welfare.  The  spiritual  and  intellectual  things 
which  constitute  the  mind  of  the  Church  can  only  be  entered 
into  from  a  love  of  Avhat  is  good  and  true.  Hence  Jesus  said 
to  the  faithful  servant,  "  Enter  thou  into  the  joy  of  thy  Lord" ;  I 
where  by  entering  is  plainly  meant  the  experience  of  delight 
from  a  principle  of  love.  The  Lord  said  unto  Noah,  "Come 
thou  and  all  thy  house  into  the  ark,"  when  he  had  "seen  him 
righteous  before  him  in  that  generation."  That  was  the  quali- 
fication by  which  those  people  were  enabled  to  comply  with  the 
gracious  invitation,  and  so  to  be  protected  from  surrounding 
peril.  AMien  a  man  is  taught  what  are  the  interior  arrange- 
ments of  an  orderly  mind,  and,  liy  things  intellectual,  is  con- 
vinced of  their  use,  he  may  be  said  to  have  built  the  ark :  but 
lie  can  enter  into  it  only  from  an  activity  of  love;  that  is  the 
principle  by  which  he  is  seen  to  be  righteous  before  the  Lord, 
and  he  is  then  invited  to  enter,  because  he  is  inclined  to  do  so, 
and  can  be  saved  therel^y. 

But  it  was  not  only  Noah  and  his  house  who  were  to  enter 
into  the  ark :  he  Avas  told  to  take  with  him  ' '  every  clean  beast 
by  sevens,  the  male  and  his  female:  and  of  l)easts  that  Avere  not 
clean  by  twos,  the  male  and  his  female.  Of  fowls  also  of  the  air 
by  sevens,  the  male  and  his  female:  to  keep  seed  alive  upon  the 
face  of  the  earth. "§     What  can  be  the  meaning  of  this? 

It  was  an  observation  of  the  ancients,  tliat  a  man  is  a  micro- 
cosm or  little  world;  by  which  they  meant  that  all  things  in  the 
world  of  nature  have  a  sort  of  antitype  in  the  world  of  mind, — 
mind  being  the  specific  inheritance  of  man.  On  this  ground, 
beasts  among  the  ancients  were  named  to  signify  certain  living 
affections  in  man;  the  clean  beasts  the  good  affections,  and  un- 
clean beasts  the  evil  affections  pertaining  to  his  nature.  The 
reason  why  man's  affections  are  so  signified  is,  because  in  his 

"  .Tolm  XV.  4.  t  Rev.  iii.  20. 

I  Miitt.  XXV.  21.  ^Geu.  vii.  2,  '.i. 


AFFECTIONS    COMPARED    TO    BEASTS.  307 

fallen  condition  he  has  had  induced  upon  his  senses,  appetites, 
and  feelings,  sensations  similar  to  those  which  are  common  to 
the  beasts.  The  only  ground  or  cause  of  his  excellence  or 
superiority  is  his  interior  life,  which  the  beasts  have  not,  nor 
are  they  capable  of  having  it.  This  interior  life  is  man's  spir- 
itual nature,  and  God's  special  gift  to  him.  It  is  maintained 
by  means  of  the  knowledges  of  truth  and  the  love  of  goodness 
communicated  to  him  from  the  Lord.  There  is  a  living  and 
enduring  principle  in  all  the  virtues  which  he  communicates  to 
forms  created  for  their  reception.  All  truth  and  goodness  are 
His,  and  He  is  in  them;  and  man,  their  created  recipient, 
derives  his  immortality  from  them.  It  is  the  life  inherent  in 
truth  which  influences  his  understanding,  and  the  life  inherent 
in  goodness  which  influences  his  will:  these  distinguish  liim 
from  the  brute,  and  without  wliich  he  would  in  no  respect  be 
man. 

It  was  because  the  ancients  knew,  and  when  they  were  in 
humility  acknowledged,  that  they  had,  by  the  fall,  partaken  of 
a  low  and  bestial  nature,  that  they  compared  tlieir  affections  to 
beasts,  and  their  thoughts  to  fowls,  distinguishing  the  good  from 
the  evil.  The  good  aflfections  they  compared  to  lambs,  sheep, 
goats,  and  oxen,  because  they  were  harmless  and  gentle;  also 
because  of  their  usefulness  in  respect  to  human  convenience 
and  life:  whereas  the  evil  affections  were  compared  to  unclean 
beasts,  such  as  foxes,  wolves,  and  serpents.  This  also  is  the 
reason  why  the  Lord  afterwards  spoke  of  the  members  of  his 
Church  as  sheep  and  lambs,  as  in  the  case  where  he  directed 
Peter  to  feed  his  lambs  and  sheep;  also  Avhy  he  spoke  of  the 
wicked  as  wolves,  foxes,  serpents,  and  a  generation  of  vipers, 
as  in  the  case  of  the  Pharisees  and  Herod. 

Again,  under  the  representative  economy,  clean  beasts,  with- 
out spot  or  blemish,  were  directed  to  be  offered  in  sacrificial 
worship,  because  they  were  designed  to  represent  the  pure  affec- 
tions by  and  with  which  the  Lord  can  alone  be  worshipped.  Un- 
clean beasts  were  most  scrupulously  excluded,  because  the  Lord 
cannot  l)e  worshipped  acceptably  from  the  impure  affections 
which  they  signify.  Fowls,  also,  such  as  doves  and  pigeons, 
were  portions  of  the  sacrificial  ritual,  because  they  represented 
true  ideas  pertaining  to  the  thought.     This  ceremonial  worship 


308  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

was  performed  by  means  of  beasts  and  birds,  to  represent  that 
the  true  worship  of  the  Lord  is  offered  up  by  means  of  pure 
affections  of  love  and  correct  ideas  of  thought.  The  two  facul- 
ties of  man,  and  the  internal  things  belonging  to  them,  when  in 
a  state  of  order,  are  to  be  brought  into  activity  in  the  perform- 
ance of  this  high  and  important  duty. 

Much  perplexity,  has  been  experienced  at  the  mention  of  clean 
and  unclean  beasts,  before  the  institution  of  the  Levitical  law, 
by  which  that  distinction  is  declared;  and  to  account  for  this 
circumstance,  it  has  been  supposed  that  Moses  spoke  by  way  of 
anticipation  in  reference  to  those  animals  which  the  Jews  so 
denominated  at  the  time  of  his  writing.  This,  however,  is  not 
the  correct  reason.  Although  the  law  announces  the  distinc- 
tions, the  principles  upon  which  they  are  founded  are  those 
different  classes  of  affections  and  thoughts,  which  a  more 
ancient  and  better  informed  people  than  the  Jews  kncAV  to  have 
their  rei^resentations  in  different  classes  of  animated  nature; 
and  consequently  they  spoke  of  them  as  such.  This  is  the 
ground  of  those  distinctions  being  mentioned  in  the  case  before 
us;  and  those  of  the  Levitical  law  arose  therefrom.  Under  this 
view  the  whole  perplexity  disappears,  and  the  facts  are  highly 
suggestive.  They  show  that  the  beasts  and  fowl,  which  Noah 
was  directed  to  take  with  him  into  the  ark,  are  mentioned 
merely  to  represent  that  great  variety  of  affection  and  thought 
which  distinguished  the  people  Avho  were  entering  into  the 
Church  then  in  the  process  of  being  established. 

Man,  on  entering  into  the  Church,  necessarily  took  with  him 
all  his  affections,  both  good  and  bad:  the  good  affections  were 
the  clean  beasts;  and  these  were  to  be  taken  in  by  sevens,  to 
denote  that  there  is  a  holiness  about  all  good,  of  which  that 
number  is  significant.*  The  fowls  also  were  to  be  taken  in  by 
sevens,  to  denote  holiness  which  pertains  to  the  knowledges  of 
truth,  of  which  the  fowls  Avere  the  types.  The  unclean  beasts 
represented  the  impure  affections  which  had  fixed  themselves  on 
man;  and  these  were  to  be  taken  in  by  twos  or  pairs, f  to  indi- 

*  For  illustration,  see  pp.  57,  62. 

t  At  verses  19  and  20  of  the  preceding  chapter,  Noah  was  directed  to  take 
into  the  ark  "^^ro  of  every  sort, — of  fowls  after  their  kind,  and  of  cattle  after 
their  kind,  and  of  every  creeping  thing;  "  nothing  is  said  abont  taking  any 


SIGNIFICATION    OF    TWO:    MALP:    AND    FEMALE.  300 

cate  the  profane  conjunction  which  they  had  furnii'd  with  his 
nature.  The  number  two  denotes  conjunction:  in  the  case  of 
what  is  clean,  the  conjunction  of  what  is  true  and  good;  but  in 
the  case  of  what  is  not  clean,  as  in  the  instance  before  us,  the 
conjunction  of  what  is  false  and  evil.  Hence  by  the  unclean 
beasts,  or  man's  evil  affections,  are  not  to  be  understood  that 
they  Avere  so  few  in  comparison  with  the  clean  beasts,  or  good 
affections,  as  to  be  only  in  the  proportion  of  hco  to  seven;  for  the 
evils  in  man  are  more  numerous  than  his  goods.  But  seven  are 
predicated  of  what  is  clean,  to  indicate  the  sanctity  of  all  that 
is  good;  and  two  are  predicated  of  what  is  unclean,  to  express  in 
this  case  the  profane  conjunction  which  exists  between  what  is 
false  and  evil. 

Two  signifies  conjunction,  because  all  things  in  creation  have 
reference  to  the  two  principles  of  goodness  and  truth :  to  good, 
as  to  what  is  agent  and  influent;  and  to  truth,  as  to  what  is 
patient  and  recipient.  From  this  ground  there  is  something 
resembling  a  marriage  in  all  things  of  the  three  kingdoms  of 
nature,  and,  indeed,  without  it  nothing  at  all  could  exist:  for 
in  order  that  anything  may  exist  in  nature  there  must  be  heat 
and  light,  and  these  two  must  act  in  unity  if  anything  be  pro- 
duced; and  if  they  do  not  act  in  unity,  as  is  in  some  measure 
the  case  in  winter,  nothing  is  effected.  This  also  is  the  case, 
spiritually,  with  man.  There  are  two  faculties  appertaining  to 
him,  namely,  the  will  and  the  understanding:  the  will  is  formed 
to  receive  the  good  of  love,  which  corresponds  to  heat,  and  the 
understanding  to  receive  the  truths  of  faith,  Avhich  correspond 
to  light.  Unless,  therefore,  the  good  of  love  and  the  truth  of 
faith  make  a  one  in  man,  nothing  is  produced;  for  the  good  of 

\i\  hj  sevens ;  nor  is  there  any  distinction  made  between  the  clean  and  un- 
clean. This  appears  like  a  discrepancy,  yet  it  is  not  so  ;  the  reason  for  the 
various  statements  is  the  different  aspects  of  the  general  subject  treated  of  in 
each  case.  The  statements  at  chap,  vi.,  ver.  19,  20,  are  made  in  connection 
with  the  directions  for  huilding  the  ark,  and  thus  refer  to  things  intellectaal. 
and  the  regeneration  of  all  the  things  of  faith,  by  means  of  all  the  goods  of 
charity,  and  so  by  pairs.  But  the  invitation  for  eniering  into  Vie  ark,  after  it 
was  built,  refers  to  the  things  of  the  will,  lor  the  reasons  stated  above. 
Hence  also  it  is,  that  in  chap,  vi.,  from  the  9th  verse  to  the  end,  the  Supreme 
Being  is  not  called  Jehovah,  but  God  ;  though  in  chap.  vii.  hois  spoken  of  as 
Jehovah.     Notice  is  taken  of  a  similar  circumstance  at  page  59. 


310  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

love,  without  the  truth  of  faitli,  does  not  determine  or  qualify 
anything;  and  the  truth  of  faith,  witlunit  the  good  of  love,  does 
not  effect  anything:  wherefore,  to  the  intent  that  there  may  be 
in  man  a  heavenly  marriage,  those  two  principles  must  make  a 
one  with  him,  and  become  conjoined.*  It  is  hence,  then,  that 
two  signifies  conjunction:  in  the  case  before  us,  the  conjunction 
of  Avhat  ife  evil  and  false,  because  these  are  represented  by  the 
unclean  beasts. 

It  is  farther  said  of  each  class,  that  they  were  to  be  taken  in, 
"male  and  his  female,"  to  denote  that  all  things  of  thought 
were  united  to  some  affection.  Indeed,  no  thought  can  exist  in 
the  understanding  which  is  not,  at  the  same  time,  conjoined,  as 
in  a  kind  of  marriage,  with  some  affection  in  the  will:  hence 
male  and  female  are  mentioned  to  represent  this  marriage, — the 
male  referring  more  to  the  things  of  intellect  and  understanding, 
the  female  more  to  the  things  of  affection  and  the  Avill.  So 
that  the  very  minutise  of  the  narrative  are  found  to  disclose  re- 
markable particulars  concerning  the  metaphysical  constitution 
of  mankind.  The  Word  of  God  is  the  only  book  on  true  meta- 
physics. It  was  written  by  God's  direction;  He  knows  what  is 
in  man,  and  it  is  a  revelation  to  him  of  all  the  characteristics 
of  his  mental  condition.  For  a  man  to  know  himself  he  must 
study  the  Word  of  God. 

Beasts,  the  clean  and  unclean,  with  fowls,  were  to  be  taken 
into  the  ark,  because  the  man  of  the  Church  was  then,  as  he  is 
now,  of  a  mixed  character,  as  to  his  intellect  and  will.  He 
has  affection  for  goodness,  and  thoughts  towards  truth;  he  has 
propensities  to  evil,  and  inclinations  to  falsehood;  (God  has 
mercifully  provided  for  the  former  by  the  preservation  of  re- 
mains) :  and  these  are  the  clean  and  unclean  beasts  and  fowls. 
By  Noah  taking  them  with  him  into  the  ark,  was  represented 
man's  entering  into  the  Church  with  these  opposite  character- 
istics in  his  nature:  and  the  reason  assigned  for  so  doing  was, 
"to  keep  seed  alive  upon  the  earth";  that  is,  to  perpetuate 
truth  in  the  world.  The  seed  is  the  truth  of  the  Church,  of 
which  the  Lord  is  the  sower.  Some  of  this  seed  remained  with 
Noah,  hence  it  was  that  he  found  grace  in  the  sight  of  the 
Lord.  All  the  rest  of  the  posterity  of  Adam  had  destroyed  this 
*  Arcaua  Ccelestia,  n.  5194. 


THE    CLEAN    AND    THE    UNCLEAN    BEASTS.  311 

seed  in  themselves,  and  were  in  conse4ij[uence  :ib(^)ut  to  perish: 
the  seed  of  truth  is  kept  aHve  l)y  use  in  goodness.  Truth  hves 
when  it  is  employed  in  promoting  the  works  of  virtue. 

It  may  appear  from  tlie  circumstance  of  taking  in  the  unclean 
beasts  by  pairs,  as  if  the  Lord  arranged  for  the  perpetuation  of 
what  is  evil  and  false,  as  well  as  what  is  good  and  true;  still, 
every  one  must  see  that  this  was  not  intended,  because  it  is 
contrary  to  His  nature  and  His  providence.  It  was  only  seed 
that  was  to  be  kept  alive,  and  this  is  predicated  of  truth  as  the 
vessel  for  the  reception  of  good.  It  is  no  part  of  God's  designs 
to  perpetuate  man's  disorders;  but  they  being  inrooted  in  his 
nature,  he  is  invited  by  the  Lord  to  enter  with  them  into  the 
ark,  that  there  they  may  be  weakened  and  moderated  by  holy 
influences,  and  so  be  prevented  from  manifesting  themselves, 
or  becoming  hurtful  to  society. 

The  circumstance  of  the  diversified  beasts  and  fowls  which 
Noah  took  with  him  into  the  ark,  denoting  the  various  affec- 
tions and  thoughts  which  men  take  with  them  on  entering  into 
the  Church  of  God,  is  not  without  a  parallel,  in  predictions 
which  are  delivered  concerning  the  Christian  Church.  It  is 
written,  that  "the  wolf  shall  dwell  with  the  lamb,  and  the 
leopard  shall  lie  down  with  the  kid ;  and  the  calf  and  the  young 
lion  and  the  fatling  together;  and  a  little  child  shall  lead  them. 
And  the  cow  and  the  bear  shall  feed;  their  young  ones  shall  lie 
down  together:  and  the  lion  shall  eat  straw  like  the  ox.  And 
the  sucking  child  shall  play  on  the  hole  of  the  asp,  and  the 
weaned  child  shall  put  his  hand  on  the  cockatrice's  den.  They 
shall  not  hurt  nor  destroy  in  all  my  holy  mountain."*  This 
is  universally  allowed  to  be  a  representation  of  the  peaceable 
character,  which,  at  some  period,  is  to  distinguish  the  true 
Church.  That  Church  is  called  the  Lord's  "  Holy  Mountain  "  ; 
therein  are  to  be  assembled  the  wolf  and  the  lamb,  the  leopard 
and  the  kid,  the  calf  and  the  lion,  the  fatling  and  the  child,  the 
cow  and  the  bear,  the  asp  and  the  cockatrice.  Thus  the  clean 
and  the  unclean  beasts  are  to  be  assembled  in  the  holy  moun- 
tain, and  dwell  together  in  peace.  There  is,  then,  an  obvious 
parallelism  between  the  clean  and  the  unclean  beasts  to  be 
gathered  on  the  holy  mountain,  and  those  which  were  collected 

*Isa.  xi.  6,  9. 


312  THE    WORD   AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

in  the  saving  ark;  but  ag  the  prediction  of  the  prophet  is  not 
intended  to  express  a  physical  occurrence,  so  neither  is  the  nar- 
rative of  Moses.  They  both  refer  to  spiritual  and  intellectual 
phenomena,  which  take  place  with  man  during  the  process  of 
his  regeneration;  though  this  description  in  one  case  is  written 
in  the  shape  of  a  figurative  history,  yet,  in  the  other,  it  is  put 
forth  in  the  form  of  a  symbolical  prediction.  The  clean  beasts 
and  fowls  enter  into  the  Church  to  have  their  condition  pre- 
served and  elevated:  the  unclean  are  permitted  to  enter  in  order 
that  they  may  be  restrained,  and  have  their  ferocity  extracted, 
which  purposes  are  accomplished  by  those  salutary  influences 
which  the  Lord  supplies  through  the  instrumentality  of  His 
Word. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

THE  DELUGE  AND  THE  DEATH  OF  ALL  FLESH  BUT  THOSE 
WHO  ENTERED  INTO  THE  ARK. 

"  The  idea  of  a  universal  deluge,  Mosaic  or  historical,  is  not  sustainable.  Such  is 
the  opinion  of  most  of  the  geologists  on  the  Continent.  The  proofs  of  its  absurdity 
are  so  evident,  that  for  a  long  time  the  Lutheran  clergy  have  given  it  up.  At 
length  the  English  clergy,  the  most  tenacious  of  all,  have  surrendered  their  arms. 
They  have  at  last  acknowledged,  by  the  organ  of  Mr.  Sedgwick  and  Mr.  Conybear, 
that  if  there  have  been  deluges,  they  have  not  been  general;  and  that  the  Mosaic 
deluge,  if  it  ever  took  place  as  it  is  related,  could  in  no  case  produce  the  ancient 
alluvions,  or  the  pretended  diluvium." — A.  Bone,  "Mem.  Geol."  v.  i.,  p.  149. 
Paris,  1832. 

We  now  enter  upon  the  consideration  of  one  of  the  most  re- 
markable events  mentioned  in  the  Sacred  Scriptures.  A  belief 
in  the  literal  sense  of  the  Mosaic  history  of  the  deluge  has  so 
long  and  so  extensively  prevailed,  that  to  question  its  accuracy 
may  produce  some  anxiety  and  alarm.  This,  however,  must  be 
done,  in  order  to  arrive  at  a  correct  view  of  the  subject;  and 
the  theological  prejudices  thereon  formed  by  a  misrepresentation 
of  the  narrative,  must  give  way  to  the  truths  established  by 
sober  criticism  and  the  discoveries  of  science.  The  evidences 
favourable  to  this  conclusion  are  so  strong,  that  Dr.  Pye  Smith 
candidly  says,  ' '  We  must  admit  the  probability  that  we  have 
not  rightly  interpreted  those  portions  of  the  Scriptures."* 
Other  writers  of  ecclesiastical  distinction  and  scientific  celebrity 
have  arrived  at  the  same  conclusion,  f  The  question  does  not 
affect  the  authenticity  or  the  divinity  of  the  narrative;  it  is  one 
of  interpretation  only.  The  ancient  notions  upon  the  subject 
are  thoroughly  disturbed, — and  disturbed  by  testimonies  of  so 
irresistible  a  nature,  as  to  compel  their  relinquishment  by  all 
who  have  the  courage  to  open  their  eyes  to  evidence,  and  then 
to  think.  It  may  be  useful  to  advert  to  a  few  of  the  circum- 
stances which  have  conduced  to  this  result. 

*  "  Geol.  and  Scriptures,"  p.  295.     Sec.  Ed. 

t  Professors  Baden  Powell  and  Adam  Sedgwick. 

313 


314  THE    WORD    AXD    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

Wlvdi  the  populace,  from  the  teachings  they  have  received, 
regard  as  the  orthodox  belief  is,  that  the  flood  was  an  overflow  of 
water,  by  which  the  whole  surface  of  the  earth  was  submerged, 
and  produced  b}'  a  breaking  up  of  the  fountains  of  the  great 
deep,  and  forty  days  of  incessant  rain.-i^  The  evidences  on 
which  these  views  rest  are  supiDosed  to  be  furnished  by  the  letter 
of  the  narrative;  and  it  is  considered  that  the  fact  itself  is  also 
corroborated  by  very  numerous  traditions,  and  substantiated  by 
geological  phenomena. 

The  facts  presented  in  the  Mosaic  narrative  are  these:  The 
Lord  said,  "  I  will  cause  it  to  rain  upon  the  earth  forty  days 
and  forty  nights.  The  fountains  of  the  great  deep  were  broken 
up,  and  the  windows  of  heaven  were  opened.  And  the  rain 
was  upon  the  earth  forty  days  and  forty  nights.  And  the 
Avaters  prevailed  exceedingly  upon  the  earth;  and  all  the  high 
hills  that  were  under  the  whole  heaven,  were  covered  fifteen 
cubits,  "t  It  is  plain  from  these  statements,  whatever  may  be 
the  sense  attached  to  the  deluge,  that  an  idea  of  some  universal 
destruction  in  reference  to  man  is  intended  to  be  expressed;  but 
whether  it  was  produced  by  an  overflow  of  water  is  another 
question.  It  is  true  that  the  narrative  so  represents  it;  yet  it 
is  equally  true  that  the  Scriptures  frequently  employ  the  terms, 
water  and  floods,  in  a  purely  figurative  sense,  and  this  we 
think  is  the  Avay  in  which  they  are  used  in  the  instance  before 
us.  All  who  have  examined  the  narrative  in  its  literal  sense 
merel}'^,  have  been  compelled  to  acknowledge  the  great  diffi- 
culties by  which  it  is  beset,  and  to  relinquish  many  notions 
which  were  formerly  attached  to  it.  It  has  not  been  unusual 
to  regard  the  catastrophe  as  having  been  a  tumultuous  move- 
ment of  the  agitated  waves  sweeping  along  the  valleys  with 
destructive  violence,^  and  majestically  rising  up  the  mountain 
sides,  with  furious  uproar,  to  overwhelm  the  wretched  beings 
who  might  have  fled  for  safety  to  their  summits.     But  it  must 

*Thi,s  view  is  set  forth  and  defended,  in  some  instances  very  absurdly,  in 
"  An  Enquirj'  into  the  Truth  and  Certainty  of  the  Mosaic  Deluge. "  By  Pat- 
ricl-  Cockhiirn,  31. A.,   Vicar  of  Lo)ig  Horsley,  in  Northumherland. 

tGeu.  vii.  4,  11,  12,  19,  20. 

X  Dr.  Bucklaud  sets  forth  this  view  in  his  "  Reliquite  Diluviante,"  though 
he  has  candidly  abandoned  it  in  a  note  in  his  "  Bridgewater  Treatise." 


THE  FLOOD  SCARCELY  DISTURBED  THE  EARTH's  SURFACE.     315 

be  plain  to  all  who  will  calmly  examine  the  subject,  that  these 
are  exaggerations  of  the  imagination,  having  no  foundation  in 
the  description  itself.  It  does  not  represent  the  circumstance, 
either  at  its  commencement  or  termination,  to  have  been  of  so 
disrupting  and  earth-disturbing  a  character  as  was  once  vulgarly 
supposed.*  The  rise  and  subsidence  are  spoken  of  as  having 
been  gradual  and  quiet:  so  much  so,  that  the  vegetation  at  the 
earth's  surface,  in  some  districts,  was  not  destroyed  by  it;  at 
least  an  olive  leaf  is  described  to  have  been  plucked  off  after 
the  tree  had  been  submerged  in  exceedingly  deep  waters  for 
nearly  three  hundred  days!  The  ark  experienced  no  storm, 
sustained  no  injury,  but  rode  with  gentleness  upon  the  waters. 
These  circumstances  seem  to  render  it  unnecessary  to  appeal  to 
geological  phenomena  in  proof  of  the  deluge.  For  why  refer  to 
a  science  which  proves  such  extraordinary  convulsions  to  have 
taken  place  with  the  earth's  crust,  when  the  clear  inference  from 
the  Mosaic  narrative  is  that  the  earth' s  surface  was  very  little  dis- 
turbed ?  Tliose  who  appeal  to  geolog}^  to  prove  the  deluge,  con- 
cede these  facts:  they  even  suppose  what  they  understand  to  be 
the  geography  of  the  antediluvian  world  to  have  been  so  little 
disarranged  by  the  flood,  that  it  is  admissive  of  identification 
in  our  own  day.  Tliey  even  think  that  some  of  the  rivers  of 
Eden  may  still  be  pointed  out.  f  While  such  a  view  can  require 
no  aid  for  its  support  from  geological  science,  it  need  not  fear 
any  difficulties  arising  from  its  discoveries.  It  may  be  said  to 
be  unique,  but  it  is  hardly  satisfactory. 

The  prosecution  of  geological  studies  has  shown  with  the 
utmost  clearness,  that  what  was  once  understood  to  have  been 
diluvial  action,  is  not  the  result  of  one  universal  or  simulta- 
neous submergence  of  the  earth,  but  the  consequences  of  many 
distinct  local  watery  forces;  and  produced  not  by  a  gradual  in- 
undation of  only  three  hundred  and  sixty  days'  duration,  but 
by  the  continued  action  of  aqueous  forces  for  periods  of  incal- 
culable extent.  Moreover,  a  recent  overflow  of  water,  simulta- 
neously covering  the  earth  and  rising  above  the  summits  of  the 

*  See  Rev.  Dr.  Flemiug,  on  the  Geological  Delnge.  Edin.  Phil.  Journ., 
vol.  xiv.,  p.  205;  also  a  paper  in  the  Quarterly  Revieic,  Oct.,  1827,  No.  Ixxii., 
p.  481. 

t  See  page  89,  note. 


316  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

highest  mountains,  must  have  left  pecuUar  evidences  of  such 
circumstances;  such,  however,  are  not  to  be  found,  but  instead 
thereof,  there  are  positive  facts  standing  out  against  it. 

Of  course,  efforts  have  not  been  wanting  to  make  the  discov- 
eries of  science  harmonize  with  the  pre-conceived  notions  of  the 
narrative;  but  then  those  notions  have  themselves  given  Avay! 
They  have  acquired  an  elasticity,  in  which  their  original  char- 
acter has  entirely  disappeared.  There  is  no  uniform  opinion 
upon  the  sul)ject  now  extant.  The  populace,  indeed,  retain  the 
notion  concerning  it  Avhich  has  been  taught  them  in  preceding 
ages;  but  the  learned  are  not  yet  sufficiently  agreed  upon  any 
new  explanation  to  enter  upon  the  work  of  rectification.  The 
whole  matter  is  now  in  a  transition  state;  and  we  have  no  doubt 
that  a  time  will  come  when  the  narrative  will  no  longer  be 
considered  as  the  literal  history  of  natural  phenomena,  but  a 
figurative  description  of  the  mental  condition  of  mankind,  and 
of  God's  merciful  interposition  to  preserve  the  human  race  from 
perishing  by  a  wicked  influence.  This  we  conceive  to  be  the 
only  view  in  which  the  history  can  be  presented  in  a  rational 
and  satisfactory  light.  If  it  were  not  written  to  describe  an 
event  in  outward  nature,  we  need  not  be  surprised  at  its  want  of 
agreement  with  the  discoveries  and  demands  of  science. 

Although  the  rising  and  falling  of  the  waters  seem  to  have 
been  too  tranquil  to  allow  geological  phenomena  to  be  referred 
to  their  action,  still  it  may  be  asked,  whether  the  breaking  up  of 
the  fountains  of  the  great  deep  may  not  have  occasioned  those 
irregularities  and  divergences  of  the  strata  from  that  horizontal 
position  which  they  must  have  originally  possessed,  and  which 
are  now  observable  ?  Before  such  a  question  can  be  properly 
replied  to,  it  will  be  requisite  to  define  what  the  fountains  of 
the  great  deep  are.  It  has  been  conjectured  that  the  antedilu- 
vian world  contained,  within  its  centre,  immense  reservoirs  of 
water;  and  the  surrounding  strata,  having  been  made  to  give 
Avay,  sunk  into  it,  and  so  occasioned  its  elevation;  this,  it  has 
been  supposed,  was  the  breaking  up  of  the  fountains  of  the  great 
deep,  and  the  occasion  of  those  irregularities  of  strata  ol>serv- 
able.  But  it  is  an  hypothesis  without  sufficient  data;  it  is  not 
recognized  by  the  scientific  inquirer,  nor  does  it  agree  with  the 
facts  which  geology  discloses.      It  is  one  of  those  ingenious  con- 


THE    DILUVIUM.  317 

ceptions  of  the  earlier  cosmogonists,  which  have  been  abandoned 
as  impossible  by  all  who  are  in  possession  of  later  and  riper  in- 
formation. 

Still  the  inquiry  whence  the  water  was  to  be  obtained,  by 
which  all  the  high  hills  were  to  be  covered  fifteen  cubits,  natur- 
ally suggests  itself.*  Here  other  difficulties  arise;  for  Avhen  we 
know  that  it  would  require  for  the  supply  an  amount  equal  to 
five  miles  above  the  ordinary  level  of  the  sea, — that  it  would 
increase  the  equatorial  diameter  of  the  earth  eleven  or  twelve 
miles, — that  the  earth's  gravity  would  be  increased,  and  the 
causes  of  its  previous  precession  and  nutation  disarranged, — 
and  that  these  circumstances  must  needs  have  propagated  their 
effects  throughout  the  wdiole  solar  system; — we  say,  when  these 
astounding  facts  are  knowai  to  be  the  consequences  of  water 
having  covered  all  the  higli  hills  of  the  earth  fifteen  cubits,  the 
theological  view  popularly  received  must  needs  give  way  to 
some  more  reasonable  and  modified  interpretation  of  the  nar- 
rative. 

The  most  plausible  geological  facts  on  which  the  evidences  of 
the  deluge  have  most  recently  been  thought  to  rest,  are  those 
which  are  presented  in  what  has  been  generally  included  in*  the 
common  name,  diluvium.  This  is  considered  to  describe  super- 
ficial accumulation,  such  as  sand,  soil,  gravel,  and  those  loose 
aggregations  of  larger  stones  and  blocks  which  are  to  be  found 
throughout  the  Avhole  surface  of  the  earth.  But  the  examina- 
tion of  their  contents,  and  an  inquiry  into  the  direction  of  the 
currents  by  which  those  fragments  must  have  been  driven,  and 
afterwards  deposited  in  their  present  situations,  have  proved 
most  conclusively,  to  all  competent  judges  of  the  subject,  that 
they  ^vere  the  results  of  different  diluvial  actions,  that  they  must 
have  taken  place  in  dfferent  ages,  and  that  all  of  them  are  of 
local  extent,  though  the  locality  of  some  may  have  been  very 

*  Isaac  Vossius  on  this  sulvject  observes,  "that  the  waters  of  the  whole 
globe  would  uot  suffice  to  overflow  the  earth  to  such  a  height  as  is  mentioned, 
although  all  the  seas  were  drained:  more  waters  must  either  have  been  cre- 
ated for  that  purpose,  or  we  mast  say  with  some,  that  that  vast  quantity  of 
water  fell  down  from  some  other  of  the  celestial  orbs,  and  that  the  deluge 
ended,  the  water  returned  to  its  former  place.  But  the.se  are  only  pious  fool- 
eries. God  works  no  miracles  in  vain." — Treatise  of  the  True  Age  of  the 
Worl'l. 


318  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION, 

large.  Instances  are  known  in  which  one  stratum  crosses  an- 
other and  overlies  it.  From  these  circumstances,  scientific  men 
— men  influenced  by  piety  and  a  Ijelief  in  revelation — have 
concluded  that  these  phenomena  could  not  have  been  produced 
by  such  an  event  as  the  terms  of  the  Noachic  deluge  seem  to 
require.* 

Another  class  of  evidences  leading  to  the  same  result  is  fur- 
nished by  volcanoes.  In  the  south  and  towards  the  centre  of 
France,  there  are  several  hundred  conical  hills,  having  the 
forms  of  modern  volcanoes,  with  craters  more  or  less  perfect  on 
many  of  their  summits.  None  of  these  have  been  in  action 
within  the  period  of  history  or  tradition.  Some  have  had 
channels  cut  in  them  by  ancient  rivers,  through  masses  of  solid 
lava,  a  hundred  feet  in  thickness;  and  these  channels  have  since 
been  choked  up  by  streams  of  lava.f  The  time  required  for 
the  production  of  these  phenomena  is  incalculable;  still  it  is 
evident  that  they  cannot  have  transpired  since  the  period  which 
chronology  assigns  to  the  Noachic  deluge:  and  the  circumstance 
of  there  being  present,  on  the  sides  of  these  volcanoes,  loose 
scorise,  pumice,  and  cinders,  proves  that  they  have  not  been 
submerged,  and,  consequently,  that  they  were  not  inundated  by 
''Noah's  flood. "t 

*  "  That  a  transient  deluge,  like  that  described  in  the  Scriptures,  could  have 
produced  and  brought  into  its  present  situation  all  the  diluvium  which  is  now 
spread  over  this  continent  [America]  will  not  (it  seems  to  me)  be  admitted 
for  a  moment  by  any  impartial  observer." — Prof.  Hitchcock^  s  "  Geology  of  3Ias- 
sachusetts,^^  p.  148. 

fLyell's  "  Elements  of  Geology,"  Sec.  Ed.,  vol.  i.,  p.  11  ;  vol.  ii.,  p.  190. 
See  also  his  "  Principles  of  Geology."  Sir  H.  De  la  Beche's  "Geological 
Manual"  may  also  be  consulted,  3rd  Ed.,  p.  172.  Dr.  Colenso  urges  these 
facts  against  the  literal  history  of  the  deluge,  and  says:  "I  now  know  for 
certain,  on  geological  grounds,  a  fact  of  which  I  had  only  misgivings  before 
I  left  England,  viz.,  that  a  universal  deluge,  such  as  the  Bible  manifestly 
speaks  of,  could  not  possibly  have  taken  place  in  the  way  described  in  the 
Book  of  Genesis." — "  Tlie  Pentateuch  and  Bookof  Joshua  Critically  Examined,^' 
Preface,  p.  vii. 

X  "  When  did  these  fires  burn?  When  took  place  this  amazing  combina- 
tion of  volcanic  eruptions  and  their  terrible  accompaniments?  How  long 
ago  was  the  last  of  them  ?  And  by  what  intervals  of  time  could  we  ascend 
from  that  last  to  the  earlier  eruption,  and  to  the  earliest  of  the  astounding 
number?      These  questions  cannot  be   answered  by  any  assigning  of  our 


THE    FLOOD    COXSIDERED    TO    BE    LOCAL.  319 

The  idea  of  its  universality  liud  been  relinquislied  by  many 
distinguished  Biblical  scholars  before  geology  became  a  science. 
Among  others  may  be  named  Bishop  Stillingfleet,  the  learned 
Vossius,  and  Matthew  Poole;  the  former  observes,  "I  cannot 
see  any  urgent  necessity  from  the  Scriptures  to  assert  that  the 
flood  did  spread  itself  over  all  the  surface  of  the  earth;  "*  and 
the  latter  observes,  "It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  the  entire  globe 
of  earth  was  covered  with  water,  "f  Rosenmiiller  has  given  a 
summary  of  the  arguments  which  modern  critics  have  advanced 
to  prove  that  the  deluge  was  not  universal.  |  Dr.  Pye  Smith, 
one  of  the  most  recent  and  accomplished  writers  on  this  subject, 
contends  that  the  expressions  which  have  been  so  interpreted 
are  mere  orientalisms,  and  that  they  mean  no  more  than  a  large 
extent.  He  thinks  it  was  onl}-  great  enough  to  overwhelm  the 
whole  of  the  human  race,  that  being  the  principal  ol^ject  of  it; 
and  considers  that,  at  the  time  of  its  occurrence,  men  had  not 
emigrated  beyond  a  comparatively  small  district  in  the  East; 
and  he  finally  fixes  the  scene  of  the  inundation  described  by 
Moses  in  and  about  that  portion  of  Western  Asia  where  there  is 
a  large  district  now  considerably  depressed  below  the  level  of 
the  sea.§  That  there  might  have  been  a  local  deluge  in  the 
district  named,  as  doubtless  there  has  been  in  many  other  por- 
tions of  the  East  and  elsewhere,  need  not  be  questioned.  But 
Avas  it  the  Noachic  flood  ?     There  is  not  sufficient  evidence  to 

measures  of  time, — years  and  ceuturies.  Such  aualo,s;ies  as  may  be  iuferred 
by  comparative  examination  of  the  condition  of  Etna,  Vesuvius,  and  other 
active  volcanoes,  carry  us  to  the  contemplation  of  a  period  which  runs  back, 
not  to  the  age  of  Noah,  but  immeasurably  beyond  the  date  of  the  creation  of 
man  and  his  contemporary  plants  and  animals." — Dr.  Pye  Smith,  ^' Scrip. 
Geo.,''  Sec.  Ed.,  p.  146. 

*  "Origines  Sacrre,"  Book  III.,  chap.  iv.  f  "Synopsis,"  Gen.  vii.  19. 

t  "Schol.  in  Gen.,"  vol.  i.,  pp.  92-94.  See  also  King's  "  Mor-sels  of  Criti- 
cism," vol.  iii.,  pp.  103-108. 

§  Mesopotamia  and  Persia,  part  of  Afghanistan  and  Turkistiin,  taken 
generally.  Vossius  also  contends  that  mankind  had  not  then  extended  them- 
selves beyond  the  borders  of  Syria  and  Mesopotamia,  and  says,  "  No  reason 
obliges  us  to  extend  the  inundation  of  the  deluge  beyond  those  bounds  which 
were  inhabited." — Treatise  of  the  True  Age  of  the  World. 

Coetlogon  i>laces  mankind  at  this  period  at  tlie  confluence  of  the  two  great 
rivers,  tlie  Euphrates  and  Tigris,  and  supposes  the  deluge  to  have  been  occa- 
sioned by  their  overflow.— i//,s  "  Universal  History  of  Arts  and  Sciences,''  Art. 
A^itedilmyians. 


320  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

affirm  it,  and  there  is  some  amount  of  negative  evidence  against 
it.  By  defining  the  locality,  and  concentrating  the  race  to  be 
destroyed,  the  probability  is  increased  of  finding  human  remains 
for  the  proof  of  it.  But  what  is  the  fact  ?  It  is  notorious  that 
no  bed  produced  by  diluvial  action  has  ever  been  discovered, 
which  contained  a  single  bone  or  tooth  of  the  human  species.* 

*This  question  has  beeu  investigated  with  much  scientific  care  by  compe- 
tent observers  in  various  parts  of  Europe  and  elsevvliere  ;  and  the  results 
have  been  recently  published  by  Sir  Charles  Lyell,  F.K.S.,  in  his  "Geologi- 
cal Evidences  of  the  Antiquity  of  Man,"  1863.  The  reader  who  wishes  for 
farther  information  on  this  point  is  referred  to  that  work.  It  may,  however, 
be  useful  to  notice  two  or  three  facts  brouglit  out  with  considerable  promi- 
nence. Fragments  of  human  bones  have  beeu  found  in  the  caverns  of  Bize, 
in  the  department  of  Aude,  and  in  Pondres,  near  Nismes  (both  in  France), 
embedded  with  the  bones  of  extinct  mammalia,  and  others  of  recent  species  ; 
but  it  is  the  concurrent  opinion  of  scientific  inquirers,  that  they  cannot  be 
referred  to  a  "  diluvial  catastrophe,"  and  that  they  did  not  belong  to  ante- 
diluvian periods,  but  to  a  people  in  a  state  of  similar  civilization  to  those 
who  constructed  the  tumuli  and  altars  (pp.  60,  61).  Other  fragments  have 
been  found  in  other  places,  but  under  circumstances  which  leave  no  doubt 
in  the  minds  of  scientific  geologists,  that  man  was  not  only  contemporary 
with  the  extinct  animals  with  which  his  remains  have  been  found  mingled, 
but  that  they  could  not  have  been  left  in  the  places  where  they  have  been 
discovered  ;  the  geological  formation  of  these  places  plainly  showing  that  the 
antiquity  of  those  remains  is  much  greater  than  that  which  is  commonly 
supposed  to  have  been  the  date  of  that  catastrophe.  In  the  delta  of  the 
Mississippi,  for  the  formation  of  which  the  lowest  estimate  of  time  is  calcu- 
lated to  be  100,000  years,  there  have  been  found  four  forests,  one  superim- 
posed upon  the  other,  some  charcoal,  and  a  human  skeleton.  To  this  skeleton 
Dr.  Dowler  ascribes  an  antiquity  of  .50,000  years  (p.  44).  The  flint  imple- 
ments which  have  been  discovered  in  several  parts  of  Europe,  and  which  are 
evidently  of  human  workmanship,  show,  from  their  geological  situation, 
that  they  must  have  been  made  prior  to  tlie  date  claimed  for  the  deluge, 
and  that  such  an  event  could  not  have  been  the  cause  of  such  a  deposit. 
Although  Sir  Charles  Lyell  is  very  exact  about  his  facts,  he  is  exceedingly 
careful  to  avoid  Biblical  interpretations.  Professor  Sedgwick,  of  Cambridge, 
who  at  one  time  referred  all  secondary  formation  of  geology  to  Noah's  flood, 
on  quittinft;  the  chair  publicly  read  his  recantation,  and  said  we  ought  to  have 
paused  before  we  adopted  the  dilnvian  theory  ;  "for  of  man,  and  the  works 
of  his  hands,  we  have  not  found  a  single  trace  among  the  remnants  of  a 
former  world  entombed  in  these  ancient  deposits. "  The  learned  Bunsen  ob- 
serves, "We  have  no  hesitation  in  asserting  at  once  that  there  exist  Egyptian 
monuments,  the  date  of  which  can  be  accurately  fixed,  of  a  higher  antiquity 
than  those  of  any  other  nation  known  in  history,  viz.,  about  5000  years." 
This  is  nearly  a  thonsaTid  years  be'"ore  the  date  assigned  for  the  deluge. — 
"  Egypt's  Place  in  Universal  History,"  p.  23. 


THE    LITERAL    RENDERING    NOT    CONSISTENT    WITH    FACTS.    321 

Dr.  A.  Clarke  calculates,  that  within  the  first  128  years  of  the 
world,  there  were  upwards  of  half  a  million  of  inhabitants: 
taking  the  same  data  on  which  he  computed,  and  carrying  it 
down  to  1656  a.m.,  the  year  of  the  flood,  according  to  Arch- 
bishop Usher,  there  must  have  been  a  population  of  many  mil- 
lions. Is  it  not  remarkable,  then,  if  such  an  immense  number 
of  persons  perished  in  the  way  supposed,  and  within  the  limited 
district  pointed  out,  that  there  should  not  be  discovered  any  re- 
mains to  prove  it  ?  It  is  by  no  means  unreasonable  to  expect 
that  such  a  proof  might  be  produced,  if  the  event  happened  in 
the  way  it  is  interpreted.  How,  then,  have  the  traces  and 
marks  of  the  catastrophe  been  so  completely  effaced  and  de- 
stroyed in  reference  to  humanity,  Avhen  we  find  a  great  variety 
of  remains  belonging  to  other  different  departments  of  animated 
nature,  which  have  been  submerged  for  incalculable  periods, 
and  by  the  action  of  water  embedded  in  numerous  rocks  and 
strata  of  the  earth  ?  We  cannot  answer  this  question.  It  is  for 
those  to  do  so  Avho  have  adopted  the  hypothesis  which  has  sug- 
gested it. 

The  phenomena,  then,  to  which  the  theologians  of  the  last 
century  appealed,  as  proofs  that  the  Mosaic  description  of  the 
deluge  referred  to  an  overflow  of  the  earth  by  water,  about 
four  thousand  years  ago,  upon  the  fullest  inquiry,  made  by 
competent  authorities,  prove  no  such  thing!  The  whole  of  such 
phenomena  are  demonstrated  to  have  resulted  from  a  long-sus- 
tained action  of  aqueous  currents  and  local  submergence,  and 
not  from  a  universal  and  steady  overflow  of  only  one  year's 
duration,  as  expressed  in  the  narrative.  The  phenomena  previ- 
ously resorted  to  by  theologians  as  proofs  are  abandoned  by 
many,  whose  bias  would  have  kept  them  to  their  former  system 
with  the  utmost  pertinacity,  if  it  could  have  been  done  with  any 
consistency,  after  the  production  of  such  incontestable  physical 
evidence  to  the  contraiy. 

The  modern  interpretation  of  the  narrative  is  not  much  better 
substantiated.  It  is  said  to  have  been  universal  in  respect  to  man 
only,  but  limited  to  some  geographical  district.  Thus  the  idea  of 
its  having  been  a  physical  occurrence  is  still  maintained,  though 
not  a  single  phj'sical  proof  of  it  can  be  produced !  Men  have  been 
so  long  accustomed  to  view  it  in  that  light,  that  notwithstanding 
23 


322  THE    WOKD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

the  difficulties  by  which  it  is  surrounded,  they  are  reluctant  to 
behold  it  in  any  other.  We,  however,  as  before  observed,  have 
no  doubt  that  time  and  farther  inquir}'  will  lead  to  tlie  estab- 
lishment of  an  entirel}^  different  opinion.  By  relinquishing  the 
literal  interpretation,  the  authority  of  the  narrative  is  not  re- 
nounced; it  is  only  a  giving  up  of  the  ideas  which  men  have 
attached  to  it,  from  a  want  of  acquaintance  with  this  ancient 
and  Divine  style  of  composition.  Its  religious  value  and  sacred 
importance  will  remain  in  all  their  integrit}'  if  we  consider  it  to 
be  a  figurative  description  of  spiritual  phenomena  only; — a 
figure  nevertheless  provided,  in  all  probability,  by  the  occur- 
rence of  some  local  flood  which  had  happened,  and  in  which 
many  members  of  society  had  disastrously  perished. 

We  may  be  reminded  that  the  event  is  alluded  to  in  other 
parts  of  the  Scriptures.  So  it  is.  Ezekiel  mentions  Noah's 
name  twice,*  and  Isaiah  speaks  of  the  waters  of  Noah.f  The 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  referred  to  it  as  a  general  calamity;  |  so  also 
do  his  Apostles  Paul§  and  Peter:  ||  but  the  object  of  those  refer- 
ences is  not  to  set  forth  the  physical  nature  of  the  circumstance. 
None  of  those  parties  speak  of  it  in  that  light  at  all;  nor  is  tliere 
any  precise  allusion  made  to  the  catastrophe.  It  is  mentioned 
incidentally,  and  with  the  view  of  supporting  some  other  truth; 
it  is  contemplated  merely  as  a  calamity,  but  whether  it  was  of  a 
natural  or  spiritual  kind  is  not  declared.  It  is  reasonable  to 
suppose,  if  it  had  been  a  natural  event,  that  it  would  have 
been  referred  to  with  great  frequency  and  force  in  other  por- 
tions of  the  Word.  This  is  the  case  with  many  other  circum- 
stances of  actual  historv:  it  is  ver}'  conspicuous  in  the  case 
o/  the  lil)eration  of  the  sons  of  Israel  from  Egyptian  bond- 
age. Their  unhappy  condition  in  that  country,  and  the  advan- 
tages of'  their  having  been  delivered  therefrom,  are  alluded  to 
with  more  or  less  emphasis  in  almost  all  the  books  of  the 
Hebrew  Scriptures;  whereas  the  flood  is  only  once  hinted  at, 
and  that  in  the  way  of  figure!  Surely  there  nu;st  have  been 
some  cause  for  this;  antl  may  not  that  cause  have  been  its 
spiritual  character,  and  thus  its  unsuital^leness  for  being  appre- 

*  Ezek.  xiv.  14,  20.  f  Isa.  liv.  9. 

X  Matt.  xxiv.  37-39  ;  Luke  xvii.  26,  27. 

^  Heb.  xi.  7.  ||  1  Pet.  iii.  20  ;  2  Pet.  hi.  6. 


MODERN    INTERPRETATION.  323 

ciated  by  so  sensual  a  people  as  the  Jews  most  unquestionably 
were?  But  without  insisting  upon  these  points,  we  think  that 
a  legitimate  argument  could  be  drawn  from  the  connection  in 
which  the  above  passages  occur,  to  show  that  the  writers  and 
the  Divine  speaker  regarded  it  as  a  spiritual  transaction :  but  of 
this  again. 

Our  attention  may  be  directed  to  the  traditions  of  such  an 
event,  which  are  found  to  prevail  in  almost  every  part  of  the 
world.  To  what  we  have  already  said  upon  this  subject  we 
have  but  little  to  add.*  Details  of  those  traditions  have  been 
learnedly  collected  by  Mr.  Bryant,  and  preserved  in  his  ^^ Ancient 
Mythology.''^  Other  writers  have  usefully  and  learnedly  pursued 
a  similar  study.  Mr.  Sharon  Turner,  in  his  ' '  Sacred  History  of 
the  World,'' ^  has  referred  to  such  traditions  somewhat  extensively, 
and  attempted  an  elaborate  argument  to  prove  from  them  the 
certainty  of  the  deluge.  ■  It  would  have  been  a  more  satisfactory 
effort  if  he  had  shown  the  kind  of  deluge  referred  to  by  them. 
This  point  is  assumed  to  have  been  a  natural  phenomenon; — it 
was  prejudged  to  be  so,  but  it  is  not  proved.  It  must  be  con- 
fessed that  some  of  those  traditions  are  exceedingly  remote, 
obscure,  and  rude,  and  that  much  scope  has  to  be  given  to  the 
imagination,  in  order  to  establish  any  identity  between  them 
and  that  of  the  Mosaic  record,  f      But  although  we  may  admit 

*  See  pp.  21,  22.  It  is  highly  probable  that  many  of  the  traditions  re- 
ferred to  did  not  arise  from  the  event  spoken  of  in  the  Hebrew  Scriptures, 
but  from  some  destructive  local  inundations  by  which  the  nations  had  been 
visited  ;  for  there  is  scarcely  a  country  to  be  mentioned  that  has  not  experi- 
enced some  extensive  disaster  of  the  kind,  and  of  which  there  are  either 
historical  or  traditional  reminiscences.  It  is  proper  to  distinguish,  in  an  iu- 
(juiry  of  this  sort,  between  the  traditions  of  a  deluge  and  the  deluge  spoken 
of  by  Moses.  It  is  plain  that  many  which  are  mentioned  by  writei's  on  this 
subject  have  not  the  slightest  allusion  to  it. 

t  For  instance,  the  Egyptian  tradition,  as  related  by  Diodorus  Siculus, 
when  speaking  of  their  persuasion  that  they  were  the  first  of  mankind,  is 
this  :  "They  say,  on  the  whole,  that  either  in  the  flood  which  occurred  in  the 
time  of  Deucalion,  the  greatest  part  of  living  things  perished  ;  but  that  it  was 
likely  that  those  who  inhabited  Egypt  so  much  to  the  south,  and  so  free  from 
rain,  were  mostly  preserved  ;  or,  as  some  declare,  that  all  that  were  alive 
being  destroyed,  the  earth  again  brought  forth  new  natures  of  animals  from 
their  beginning. " — Diod.  Sic,  1.  i.,  p.  10. 

The  Grekk  tradition  is  given  by  Apollodorns  thus:    "When  Jupiter 


324  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIKATION. 

that  tliere  is  a  number  of  them  sufficiently  plain  to  show  that 
they  do  refer  to  some  circumstance  denominated  the  flood,  still 
this  does  not  concede  them  to  mean  an  overflow  of  natural 
water.  Some  spiritual  calamity,  which  had  befallen  a  people 
among  whom  figurative  language  was  in  high  repute,  might 
have  been  spoken  of  in  such  terms;  but  as  the  right  signification 
of  them  was  lost  in  after  ages,  mankind  would  then  very  natvn-- 
ally  regard  them  to  express  a  physical  event.  That  tradition 
may  arise  from  such  a  source  is  very  evident;  and  that  the  views 
which  they  were  originally  intended  to  express  may,  by  the 
diversity  of  national  genius,  prejudices,  vanity,  or  ambition, 
have  their  signification  entirely  changed,  will  scarcely  be 
doubted.  It  is  plain  that  this  has  been  the  case.  The  gen- 
erality of  the  traditions  which  have  been  collected  upon  this 
subject,  and  which  are  found  to  prevail  in  those  countries  where 
the  Christian  Scriptures  are  not  known,  show  most  conclusively 
how  the  original  idea,  whatever  it  was,  has  been  mixed  up  with 
some  national  circumstance.  We  therefore  hold  that  it  is  not 
enough  for  the  point  in  hand  to  show  that  there  are  such 
traditions,  or  that  they  have  been  for  many  generations  under- 
stood to  refer  to  a  deluge  of  natural  waters;  and  we  contend  that, 
to  make  out  such  an  understanding  of  those  traditions  to  be 
correct,  it  is  first  requisite  to  define  the  true  meaning  of  what  is 
thought  to  be  the  historical  source  of  them.     This  source  must 

determined  to  destroy  the  brazen  race,  Deucalion,  by  the  advice  of  Prome- 
theus, made  a  great  ark,  Aapvaica^  and  put  into  it  all  necessary  things,  and 
entered  it  with  Pyrrha.  Jupiter  then  pouring  down  heavy  rains  from 
heaven,  overwhelmed  the  greatest  part  of  Greece,  so  that  all  men  perished 
except  a  few  who  fled  to  the  highest  mountains.  He  floated  uiue  days  and 
nights  on  the  sea  of  waters,  and  at  last  stopped  on  Mount  Parnassus.  Then 
Jupiter  sent  Mercury  to  ask  him  what  he  wished  ;  and  he  solicited  that  man- 
kind might  be  made  again.  Jupiter  bade  him  throw  stones  over  his  head, 
from  which  men  should  come  ;  and  that  those  cast  by  Pyrrha  should  be 
turned  into  women." — ApolL,  1.  i.,  p.  23. 

The  Chinesk  tradition  is  the  following  statement  by  Confucius  : 
"Alas!  the  deluging  states  are  spreading  destruction.  They  surround  the 
mountains.  They  overtop  the  hills.  They  rise  high  and  extend  wide  as 
the  spacious  vault  of  heaven." — Dr.  3Torrison,  in  his  Preface  to  the  Chinese 
Dictionary. 

These  citations  are  as  they  are  given  by  Sharon  Turner,  in  his  "Sacred 
History  of  the  World,"  vol.  ii.,  pp.  313,  314,  324. 


TRADITIONS    OF    A    DELUGE.  325 

have  been  some  description  derived  from  the  Noachic  people,  and 
that  description  must  have  partaken  of  the  same  character  and 
genius  as  those  wliich  are  found  in  the  Scripture  narrative. 
The  whole  inquiry  therefore  resolves  itself  back  to  the  Mosaic 
record.  It  is  the  meaning  of  that  document,  and  not  the  ideas 
whicli  tradition  may  be  supposed  to  speak,  which  has  to  be 
determined. 

Most  persons  are  aware  that  tradition  presents  a  variety  of 
sul)jects  Avith  which  it  has  dealt  in  a  light  very  different  from 
that  in  which  they  originally  transpired.  A  sensible  writer  ob- 
serves, "  Those  who  know  how,  even  in  our  own  days,  reports 
are  changed  and  embellished,  how  some  features  are  oniitted 
and  others  added,  during  the  process  of  passing  from  mouth  to 
mouth,  and  how  in  the  end  they  frequently  assume  a  totally 
different  aspect  from  that  which  they  originally  had,  will  readily 
admit  that  such  traditions  cannot  be  received  with  the  same  faith 
as  contemporary  history.  We  may  add,  that  the  more  impor- 
tant the  occurrence  handed  down  by  tradition  is,  and  the  more 
it  affects  the  feelings  and  passions  of  man,  the  greater  will  l)e  the 
changes  and  corruptions  which  it  will  experience  in  its  progress. 
The  desire  of  seeing  things  clear  and  complete  is  inherent  in  the 
human  mind;  and  hence  we  find,  that  in  innumeraltle  instances, 
when  a  tradition,  or  a  series  of  traditions,  was  deficient,  unclear, 
or  incomplete,  man's  imagination  and  ingenuity  hoA^e  been  at 
work  to  make  up  an  apparently  complete  account,  either  by 
filling  up  the  gaps  in  the  original  account  with  jiure  fictions,  or 
by  transferring  and  combining  events  which  belong  to  different 
times  and  countries.  Specimens  of  traditions  of  this  kind  may 
be  found  in  great  numbers  in  the  early  history  of  every  nation."* 
Hence  it  is  evident  that  the  prevalence  of  traditions  concerning 
the  deluge  having  been  an  inundation  of  waters,  is  no  proof  that 
such  was  the  idea  attached  to  the  original  description.  They 
must  have  sprung  from  a  description^  whatever  view  may  be 
taken  of  the  circumstance;  and  the  Noachic  people,  as  the  only 
recorded  survivors  of  it,  must  have  lieen  its  authors,  and  the 
first  communicators  of  it  to  their  descendants.  That  the  sense 
of  the  original  information  concerning  it  has  been  essentially 
altered,  in  consequence  of  passing  through  such  a  diversified 
*  "  PeuDy  Cyclopaedia,"  Art.  Tradition. 


326  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

series  of  sensual  and  pi^rverting  channels,  may  1)6  reasonably 
supposed.  What  is  more  likel}^  t(j  have  transpired  with  a  nar- 
rative of  spiritual  things  couched  in  the  form  of  factitious  his- 
tory, than  that  it  would  come  to  he  understood  in  a  literal  sense, 
as  men  sunk  more  and  more  dee})ly  into  naturalism  ?  Does  not 
the  supposition  of  its  having  been  a  figurative  narrative  better 
account  for  those  great  differences  which  tradition  presents,  than 
the  popular  idea  can  possil^ly  do  ?  Surely  such  a  view  is  more 
likely  to  have  been  spread  into  a  greater  variety  of  modes  of 
thinking  and  speaking  about  it,  than  the  record  of  a  purely 
physical  transaction  would  admit.  At  all  events,  the  utmost 
that  can  be  said  of  those  traditions  is,  that  they  speak  of  a  deluge 
winch  is  now  considered  to  have  been  an  inundation  of  waters, 
but  that  they  do  not  contain  any  evidence  to  show  that  such 
was  the  meaning  of  the  description  from  which  they  originally 
sprung,  or  that  such  is  the  sense  in  which  the  Scripture  narra- 
tive ought  to  be  understood. 

Hence,  neither  science  nor  tradition  contributes  any  informa- 
tion capable  of  unfolding  the  meaning  of  this  remarkable  point 
in  the  Mosaic  records.  Indeed,  it  has  been  felt  Ijy  some  of  the 
most  able  literal  critics,  that  although  science  might,  if  rightly 
interrogated,  afford  some  collateral  testimony  to  the  idea  of 
Moses  having  recorded  a  physical  circumstance,  still  it  is  found 
to  be  perplexed  with  so  many  difficulties,  that  in  order  to  re- 
lieve the  eml)arrassment,  they  assert  it  to  have  been  a  miracle.* 
Of  course  this  view  of  the  subject  overcomes  the  difficulty;  still, 
it  creates  others  of  no  inconsiderable  weight.  Science,  so  far  as 
it  investigates  the  usual  laws  and  general  phenomena  of  nature, 
can  have  nothing  to  do  with  a  transaction  brought  about  l)v  a 
supernatural  means  and  fiat,  of  which  it  can  know  nothing. 
Reason  must  be  silent  where  a  miracle  is  declared.  But  if  the 
flood  were  miraculously  produced,  it  must  have  been  super- 
naturally  sustained  and  terminated,  and  all  its  evidences  mirac- 
ulously effaced:  as  such,  it  has  no  analogy  to  any  of  those  events 
which  the  Scrijitures  distinctly  inform  us  to  have  been  the  result 
of  special  Divine  interference.     Upon  what  evidence  is  it  said  to 

*  "  As  there  was  a  peculiar  exercise  of  the  almight,y  power  of  God  in 
effecting  tlie  deluge,  it  is  vain  and  presuniptuons  to  attempt  exphiining  the 
method  of  it  on  the  principles  of  philosophy." — Comment.  Henri/  and  Scott. 


MIRACLE.  327 

have  been  a  miracle  ?  It  is  not  so  stated  in  the  narrative  itself, 
and  the  idea  has  originated  wholly  in  the  discovered  impossi- 
bility of  reconciling  such  a  phenomenon  with  the  known  laws 
and  developments  of  nature.  In  short,  it  has  been  invented  to 
get  rid  of  difficulties,  which  otherwise  would  ere  long  lead  men 
to  abandon  the  idea  of  the  history  referring  to  a  natural  circum- 
stance at  all,  as  they  have  already  contributed  to  destroy  the 
once  orthodox  notion  of  its  universality. 

Moreover,  the  idea  of  its  having  been  a  miracle  is  not  common 
to  every  critic.  The  very  great  amount  of  supernatural  agency 
that  must  have  been  called  into  action,  and  the  gigantic  scale 
over  which  it  must  be  supposed  to  have  operated,  have  led  many 
judicious  inquirers  to  hesitate  and  doul^t  the  ]n-opriety  of  adoj)t- 
ing  such  an  idea.  It  may  be  said,  that  to  Him  who  can  perform 
them,  all  miracles  are  alike, — that  the  greatest  can  present  n(i 
more  obstacles  to  Onmipotence  than  the  smallest.*  But  how- 
ever plausible  this  may  seem,  it  overlooks  one  great  principle, 
which  is  that  Onmipotence,  because  it  is  an  attribute  of  the  God 
of  order,  must  be  regulated  by  the  laws  of  order.  Neither  God 
nor  any  of  his  attributes  acts  independently  of  laws.  From  in- 
attention to  this  fact,  innumerable  things  have  been  thought 
possible  to  Onmipotence, f  Avhich  a  judicious  consideration  must 
show  to  be  otherwise.  It  is  most  true  that  "  with  God  all  things 
are  possible  "; J  that  is,  all  things  consistent  with  his  wisdom 
and  his  goodness.  Those  Avho  overlook  this  fact  sometimes  run 
into  great  extravagance  of  opinion.  They  are  deterred  by  no 
difficulty,  nor  awed  l)y  au}^  improbability.  They  omit  the  word 
impossible  from  their  theological  vocaljulary,  and  find  in  the 
term  Omnipotence  all  that  any  difficult  hypothesis  could  wish 
for,  or  any  pressing  exigence  desire.     But  surely  there  is  some 

*  "  There  is  no  difficulty  with  God  to  perform  anything, — no  greater  en- 
deavonr  or  activity  to  produce  the  greatest  than  the  least  of  creatures;  but  an 
equal  fiicility  in  reference  to  all  things,  which  cannot  be  imagined  but  by  an 
infinite  excess  of  power  above  and  beyond  all  resistance." — Bishop  Pearson 
on  the  Creed,  p.  287. 

t  "  Is  it  not  possible  for  God  to  change  an  ox  or  a  stone  into  a  rational 
philosopher  or  a  child  of  Abraham  ? — to  change  a  man  or  a  woman  into  an 
angel  of  heaven?  Poor  Omnipotence  which  cannot  do  this  !  " — Rev.  J.  Wesley, 
A.M.,  Letter  to  the  liev.  Mr.  Law,  in  Wesley'' s  Works,  p.  356. 

X  Matt.  xix.  '2C,. 


328  THE   WORD   AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

mistake,  not  to  say  irreverence,  in  making  thus  free  Avith  a 
Divine  attribute  to  unfasten  the  knot  which,  after  all,  human 
ignorance  or  perversity  may  have  tied.  There  are  some  things 
which  we  believe  Omnipotence  cannot  do, — not  that  God  wants 
the  power,  but  because  they  would  be  contrary  to  his  purity  and 
character.  Indeed,  it  may  be  doubted  whether  he  has  the  power 
to  make  another  equal  to  himself:  if  he  have,  no  idea  of  it  is 
conceivable  by  man.  We  do  not  think  it  irreverent  to  say  that 
God  could  not  have  created  a  better  universe  than  he  has;  nor 
could  we  think  so  wdthout  impeaching  both  his  knowledge  and 
his  goodness.  We  see  Omnipotence  displayed  in  nature,  and 
also  that  it  operates  according  to  some  orderly  laws.  There  are 
several  instances  mentioned  in  the  Scriptures,  in  which  it  was 
specially  displayed;  yet  there  are  none  wherein  it  was  lavishly 
exhibited,  or  extended  beyond  the  immediate  occasion  for  it: 
hence  it  must  have  operated  in  them  all  according  to  some 
orderly  law.  Whatever  God  does  must  be  regulated  and  influ- 
enced by  his  wisdom  and  benevolence.  There  can  be  no  excep- 
tions. Every  effect  in  nature  is  the  result  of  some  law  peculiar 
to  itself;  and  the  miracles,  so  far  as  they  were  effects  in  nature, 
must  also  have  originated  in  laws  peculiar  to  themselves.  The 
planets  revolve,  trees  grow,  animals  live,  and  men  exist;  but 
each  department  of  nature  stands  by  its  own  respective  laws. 
The  laws  that  result  in  the  production  of  an  oak  are  different 
from  those  which  conduce  to  the  existence  of  a  man.  The  Lord, 
in  guiding  the  laws  which  produce  vegetation,  does  not  interfere 
with  those  which  contribute  to  humanity.  They  are  distinct 
productions  growing  out  of  the  activity  of  different  laws.  Thus 
every  effect  in  nature  comes  into  existence  by  the  operation  of 
its  own  orderly  laws;  and  we  cannot  view  the  miracles  recorded 
in  the  Word  in  any  other  light.  It  does  not  appear  to  us  to 
have  been  any  more  requisite  to  interfere  with  the  common  laws 
of  nature  in  order  to  produce  a  miracle,  than  it  is  requisite 
to  suspend  the  laws  of  vegetation  in  order  to  produce  a  man. 
Miracles,  as  specific  productions,  must  have  been  the  result  of 
specific  laws,  operating  in  harmony  with  the  designs  of  infinite 
beneficence.  A  miracle  may  be  called  a  new  temporary  crea- 
tion, mercifully  adapted  to  the  wants  of  a  low  and  depressed 
condition  of  the  human  character.     They  have  been  performed 


OMNIPOTENCE    HAS    ITS    LAWS.  329 

only  in  times  of  darkness  and  distress,  and  have  ceased  as  virtue 
and  intelligence  have  been  enabled  to  fix  themselves  with  men. 
In  the  Jewish  Church,  external  miracles  stood  in  the  place  of 
internal  intelligence;  in  the  Christian  Church,  spiritual  intelli- 
gence supplies  the  place  of  outward  miracles:  and  as  the  Chris- 
tian dispensation  is  more  excellent  than  the  Jewish,  so  intelli- 
gence is  superior  to  a  miracle  as  a  means  of  forwarding  the 
designs  of  God  for  leading  men  to  heaven.* 

Those  who  make  so  free  with  Omnipotence  as  to  suppose  that 
it  can  do  anything  which  their  imaginations  may  suggest,  have 
not  been  rightly  informed  concerning  it.  "God  is  not  the 
author  of  confusion."  f  He  acts  omnipotently  when  he  acts 
according  to  order;  and  a  true  idea  of  this  Divine  attribute  can 
be  formed  only  by  connecting  its  ojDerations  with  the  laws  of 
order.  God  is  essential  order,  because  he  is  love  itself  and  wis- 
dom itself.  The  universe  and  all  its  parts  were  created  in  order 
and  with  order.  The  order  of  creation  and  its  laws  are  physical 
evidences  showing  that  God  operates  in  these  things  according 
to  fixed  principles.  Omnipotence  was  necessary  to  produce 
creation;  Omnipotence  is  requisite  to  preserve  it.  These  results 
are  effected  by  Omnipotence  through  the  laws  of  order,  Avhence 
it  is  plain  that  God  acts  omnipotently  by  those  means. 

Everything  is  what  it  is  by  means  of  the  order,  and  conse- 
quently of  the  laws,  of  its  existence.  Man  is  distinguished  from 
the  animal,  the  fowl  from  the  fish,  and  the  tree  from  the  stone, 
by  the  laws  of  order  which  are  proper  to  their  being.  This  is 
a  universal  truth.  To  change  the  laws  of  existence  would  be  to 
change  the  things  themselves.  This  fact  being  disclosed  in 
every  department  of  nature,  is  a  plain  revelation  that  God  is 
God  by  virtue  of  the  laws  which  are  appropriate  to  his  being, 
and,  consequently,  that  he  can  no  more  depart  from  the  laws  of 
his  own  nature  and  remain  God,  than  a  man,  if  deprived  of  the 
laws  of  manhood,  could  remain  a  man.  Hence  it  is  easy  to  see 
that  the  order  approi)riate  to  the  Divine  -Being  can  only  render 
itself  manifest  by  the  invariable  observance  of  his  own  laws, — 

*  See  these  views  more  extensively  treated  in  a  discourse  by  the  author, 
on  the  Revealed  Nature  and  Orderly  Operations  of  Omnipotence  ;  also  a  chap- 
ter on  Miracles,  in  his  "Peculiarities  of  the  Bible." 

t  1  Cor.  xiv.  33. 


330  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

laws  wliicli  have  been  provided  by  his  own  infinite  under- 
standing. 

The  Omnipotence  which  the  miracles  display  is  to  be  consid- 
ered as  special  instances  for  special  pur2)oses;  but  that  in  no 
case  was  there  an^^  interference  with  the  established  laws  and 
orderly  operations  of  the  universe.  The  wisdom  of  God  would 
not  have  fixed  certain  laws  of  action  at  one  time,  which  that 
same  wisdom  must  have  foreseen  would  afterwards  liave  to  be 
disrupted  to  bring  about  some  other  end.  This,  however,  must 
have  been  the  case,  if  the  flood  were  a  miracle  of  the  kind  sup- 
posed. If  that  event  took  place  according  to  the  popular  appre- 
hension, then  it  was  a  miracle  which  has  no  analogy  with  any 
other  that  is  recorded  in  the  Scriptures,  for  it  would  not  only 
have  inverted  the  whole  order  of  tlie  earth's  condition,  but  also 
have  disturbed  its  orliicular  and  other  motions,  and  so  have 
interfered  Avith  all  the  laws  of  physical  action  throughout  the 
universe.  These  consequences  show  that  it  ought  not  to  be 
considered  a  miracle  of  such  a  kind.  But  where  is  it  said  to 
have  been  a  miracle  at  all  ?  It  is  not  so  spoken  of  in  the  his- 
tory itself,  nor  is  it  ever  alluded  to  as  such  throughout  the  whole 
Scriptures.  So  far  as  the  narrative  is  viewed  in  a  literal  sense, 
the  occurrence  is  represented  to  have  resulted  from  two  natural 
causes,  namely,  "rain,"  and  the  rising  of  water  from  some 
other  source  called  the  "great  deep."  The  idea  of  its  having 
been  a  miracle  of  so  stupendous  a  kind,  and  requiring  super- 
natural agency  upon  so  extensive  a  scale,  springs  Avholl_v  out  of 
the  literal  interpretation:  it  is  this,  and  not  the  history  itself, 
which  demands  it.  Commentators  have  taken  a  view  of  the 
su])ject  which  more  matured  inquiries  prove  to  involve  a  great 
number  of  insuperable  difficulties,  and  then,  to  help  themselves 
out  of  these  embarrassments,  they  assert  it  to  have  been  a  mii-- 
acle,  and  plead  the  ability  of  Omnipotence  to  perform  it.  The 
idea  of  its  having  been  a  miracle  in  any  ordinary  sense  of  the 
term  has  been  engendered  by,  as  we  think,  a  total  misaj^pre- 
hension  of  the  subject;  and  the  appeal  to  Onniipotence  for  its 
execution  is  resorted  to  in  complete  forgetfulness  of  its  order  and 
its  laws. 

But  upon  these  points  we  cannot  longer  dwell.  What  has 
been  said  concerning  them  is  very  general,  and  partakes  in  some 


TEMPTATIONS.  331 

measure  of  the  character  of  a  digression.  However,  we  have 
seen  from  them  that  neither  science  nor  tradition  contributes 
any  facts  to  prove  that  the  deluge  of  the  Scriptures  was  that 
natural  event  commonly  supposed;  also  that  the  resort  to  mir- 
acle and  Omnipotence,  though  it  may  silence  inquiry,  overlooks 
their  laws,  and  does  not  bring  any  satisfactory  light  to  explain 
the  subject.  Let  us  then  endeavour  to  examine  it  upon  the 
same  principles  that  we  have  adopted  for  the  deciphering  of  the 
l^receding  histories.* 

In  closing  the  last  chapter,  it  was  shown  that  the  clean  and 
unclean  beasts  which  Noah  took  with  him  into  the  ark  were 
very  similar  to  the  tame  and  ferocious  animals  that  are  predi- 
cated to  be  in  the  Lord's  holy  mountain,  and  that  the  signifi- 
cations of  the  two  circumstances  closely  resemble  each  other. 
It  is  easy  to  see  that  painful  trials  must  have  been  among  the 
first  consequences  of  clearly  discovering  that  antagonistic  affec- 
tions and  thoughts  existed  in  the  same  mind  or  Church:  "for 
what  fellowship  hath  righteousness  with  unrighteousness? 
What  communion  hath  light  with  darkness  ?' '  f  Opposing 
sentiments  and  loves  will  not  harmonize:  the  unclean  may  be 
brought  into  a  state  of  quiescence  and  subjection  to  the  clean,  but 
the  process  for  effecting  it  is  one  of  great  anxiety  and  tempta- 
tion. Temptations,  then,  are  the  subjects  Avhich  we  believe  to 
be  treated  of  under  the  figure  of  a  flood.  These,  with  the 
Noachic  people,  were  the  means  of  purification  and  safety,  be- 
cause they  provided  for  the  emergency,  and  were  enabled  to 
overcome  it;  while  all  those  who  yielded  to  their  influence 
necessarily  perished.  This  is  the  spiritual  philosophy  of  the 
circumstance,  and  the  general  instruction  it  was  intended  to 
communicate:  as  such  it  harmonizes  with  the  whole  scope  of 
revelation,  which  is  to  warn  us  against  evil  and  teach  us  the  way 

*  "  Was  it  a  flood  of  water  or  of  wickedoess  ?  Those  who  have  not  re- 
flected much  on  spiritual  things  are  startled  even  at  the  mention  of  a  spirit- 
ual flood,  although  the  thing  itself  is  not  at  all  unknown  or  unfamiliar. 
They  have  been  so  long  accustomed  to  the  vulgar  idea,  and  are  habitually  so 
persuaded  of  the  value  of  natural  life,  that,  although  the  destruction  of  virtue 
and  truth  by  torrents  of  iniquity  is  far  more  appalling  to  the  wise,  to  the 
heedless  it  seems  of  little  moment." — Dr.  Bayley's  '■'■  Divine  Word  Opened,^^ 
p.  597. 

t  2  Cor.  vi.  14. 


332  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

to  good.  Temptation  is  one  of  those  means  by  which  the  re- 
generation of  the  well-disposed  is  promoted;  it  also  brings  about 
the  desolation  and  consequent  destruction  of  all  those  in  whom 
evil  obliterates  the  capacity  of  salvation.  But  to  understand 
this  matter  it  will  be  necessary  to  make  ourselves  acquainted 
with  its  nature. 

Temptations  consist  in  all  those  things  by  which  men  are  in- 
fluenced to  think,  and  so  to  believe,  what  is  false;  and  to  love, 
and  so  to  do,  what  is  evil.  The  internal  straits,  mental  suffer- 
ings, and  distress,  which  are  experienced  during  their  operation, 
arise  from  the  efforts  which  they  make  to  destroy  something 
that  is  good  and  true  in  the  internal  man.  The  experience  of 
temptations  may  be  taken  as  a  proof  that  man  is  inclined  towards 
the  evils  which  they  suggest.  But  for  this  tendency  he  could 
not  be  tempted.  When  a  man  is  tempted,  it  is  a  sort  of  reve- 
lation to  him  that  he  has  a  bias  in  that  direction,  and  of  this 
fact  it  is  important  that  he  should  be  aware,  if  he  would  suc- 
cessfully resist  and  overcome  it.  It  is  also  true  that  the  experi- 
ence of  temptation  proves  that  there  have  been  present  in  its 
subject  some  degree  of  charity  and  faith,  since  without  these  he 
would  not  be  qualified  to  see  its  danger  or  feel  its  pain. 

Whence,  then,  do  these  temptations  originate,  and  by  what 
are  they  resisted  ?  To  answer  these  questions  satisfactorily,  we 
must  go  one  degree  farther- back  in  the  inquiry  than  is  usually 
contemplated.  It  is  a  doctrine  of  the  Sacred  Scriptures,  fre- 
quently expressed  with  much  clearness,  that  man  is,  by  virtue 
of  his  spiritual  nature,  in  association  Avith  certain  inhabitants 
of  the  spiritual  world;  that,  so  far  as  he  is  possessed  of  anything 
that  is  good  and  true,  he  is  the  companion  of  some  of  those 
happy  beings  whom  the  Lord  sends  forth  to  minister  to  those 
who  shall  be  heirs  of  salvation :  and  that,  so  far  as  he  is  prin- 
cipled in  anything  that  is  evil  and  false,  so  far  he  is  the  confed- 
erate of  some  of  those  spirits  of  darkness  who  are  called  the 
devil  and  Satan:  but  that,  because  man  is  more  or  less  of  a 
mixed  character,  there  are  attendant  upon  him  during  his  life- 
time in  the  world  spiritual  beings  of  each  class;  evil  spirits  who 
excite  man's  fallen  propensities,  and  good  spirits  who  defend 
him  by  means  of  any  intelligence  or  virtue  he  may  have  cher- 


NATURE    OF    TEMPTATIONS.  383 

ished.     The  pains  of  temptation  arise  from  the  combats  of  these 
principles,  and  their  resistance  of  each  other. 

That  some  may  doubt  the  circumstance  of  good  and  evil 
spirits  attendant  upon  the  human  race  is  to  be  expected.  The 
world  is  not  yet  cleared  of  sceptics  in  spiritual  things;  mere 
naturalism  may  have  its  advocates  for  a  long  time  yet,  but  this 
is  no  evidence  against  the  fact  that  invisible  spiritual  beings  do 
exercise  an  influence  over  men's  sentiments  and  conduct.  The 
sensualist  may  say  this  opinion  is  superstition  ;  but  the  Scrip- 
tures set  it  forth  as  a  fact,  and  there  are  phenomena  to  prove 
that  it  is  so.  All  persons  who  have  attended  to  what  frequently 
takes  place  in  their  own  minds  possess  the  evidence.  How 
suddenly  do  thoughts  and  feelings  sometimes  arise  in  the  mind, 
even  when  it  is  directed  some  other  way,  and  to  the  production 
of  which  neither  premeditation  nor  desire  has  contributed. 
They  spring  up  spontaneously :  sometimes  they  are  of  a  favour- 
able and  encouraging  description,  and  at  others  they  are  of  a 
most  fearful  and  diabolical  character.  Whence  do  they  come  ? 
We  are  not  sensible  of  having  made  any  effort  to  produce  them, 
yet  there  they  are.  These  experiences,  when  connected  with 
the  assertion  of  the  Scriptures  that  good  and  evil  spirits  are 
present  with  the  human  race,*  enable  us  to  conclude  very 
reasonably  concerning  their  origin. 

But  whatever  hesitation  there  may  be  to  accept  this  view  of 
the  source  of  temptations,  there  can  be  no  doubt  as  to  their  ex- 
istence. In  general  they  are  of  two  kinds,— those  which  affect 
the  understanding  and  any  truths  it  may  possess,  and  those 
that  act  upon  the  will  and  any  goodness  it  may  have  acquired. 

*  Psa.  xxxiv.  7:  "The  angel  of  the  Lord  encampeth  round  about  them 
that  fear  him."  Psa.  xci.  11  :  "He  shall  give  his  angels  charge  over  thee, 
to  keep  thee  in  all  thy  ways."  1  Pet.  v.  8  :  "  Your  adversary  the  devil,  as 
a  roaring  lion,  walketh  about,  seeking  whom  he  may  devour." 

Dr.  S.  Johnson,  in  his  philosophical  tale  of  "  Rasselas,"  has  made  Imlac, 
in  speaking  of  a  kindred  subject,  say,  "This  opinion,  which  perhaps  prevails 
as  far  as  human  nature  is  diffused,  could  become  universal  only  by  its  truth  : 
those  that  never  heard  of  cue  another  would  not  have  agreed  in  a  tale  which 
nothing  but  experience  can  make  credible.  That  it  is  doubted  by  single 
cavillers  can  very  little  weaken  the  general  evidence  ;  and  some  who  deny 
it  with  their  tongues  confess  it  by  their  fears." 


884  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

When  men  are  tempted  to  doubt,  and  so  to  reject  the  truths  in 
which  they  have  been  educated,  and  with  the  value  of  which 
they  have  been  favourably  impressed,  they  will  find,  if  they  }je 
attentive  to  what  is  taking  place  within  them,  that  there  is  at 
the  same  time  excited  the  remembrance  of  many  evil  actions 
of  which  they  have  been  guilty.  These  will  be  attended  with 
numerous  anxieties,  and  they  will  produce  much  perturbation 
and  painful  disquiet;  still  these  temptations  are  somewhat  mild 
when  compared  with  those  that  assail  the  will,  or  an}^  of  the 
good  things  which  affection  and  habit  have  fixed  upon  it.  If 
those  who  suffer  from  these  temptations  will  carefully  observe 
what  is  transpiring  in  their  minds,  they  will  find  that  they  are 
not  so  much  distressed  by  the  recollection  of  the  misconduct 
into  which  they  may  have  fallen,  as  by  some  powerful  influence 
urging  them  on  to  gratify  some  cupidity  or  to  indulge  some  lust; 
they  will  also  find  that  a  restlessness  of  feeling  and  moral  agony, 
attended  by  an  obscurity  concerning  truth,  will  prevail,  accord- 
ing to  the  depth  and  severity  of  the  temptation  endured. 

These  temptations  are  productive  of  two  different  conse- 
quences, according  to  the  manner  in  wliich  they  are  received 
by  the  subject  of  them.  It  must  needs  l)e  that  temptations  will 
come,  and  woe  is  the  unavoidable  result  of  their  activity.  But 
those  who  resist  them  increase  their  virtues,  and  so  are  saved; 
while  those  who  yield  to  them  enlarge  their  vices,  and  so  must 
j-terish.  Hence,  the  antediluvians  whose  wickedness  was  great 
were  destroyed;  while  those  whose  obedience  gave  them  grace  in 
the  eyes  of  the  Lord  were  saved.  The  wicked  take  in  the  evils 
of  temptation  like  sponges  imbibing  water:  the  good  repel  theln, 
and  by  that  resistance  they  increase  the  sources  and  energies  of 
virtue,  till  at  last  their  characters  are  raised  above  them.  Noah 
is  called  righteous  because  of  his  resistance,  and  he  was  saved 
in  consequence.  The  grace  and  righteousness  said  to  have  been 
found  in  him  were  the  qualification  by  which,  as  it  is  written, 
he  did  according  to  all  that  God  commanded  him. 

As  man  in  his  fallen  state  is  inclined  to  what  is  evil  and  false, 
and  as  the  Lord  is  solicitous  to  raise  him  out  of  that  degrada- 
tion, he  must,  in  order  to  effect  it,' experience  temptation.  His 
affections  cannot  be  changed  from  iniquity  to  holiness  without 
the  endurance  of  a  struggle.     The  impression  which  earthly  and 


THE    FLOOD    A    TEMPTATION.  335 

sensual  delights  have  made  upon  his  character,  renders  it  diffi- 
cult to  lift  him  out  of  it,  and  the  act  of  so  doing  will  be  attended 
with  resistance.  He  is  closely  attached  to  worldly  things;  and 
it  requires  more  effort  to  produce  the  separation  than  it  does  to 
continue  it  when  it  is  accomplished.  Like  the  severance  of  iron, 
when  in  contact  with  the  magnet,  the  effort  to  sustain  the  con- 
nection is  great  so  long  as  they  touch  each  other;  but  effect  their 
separation,  and  it  is  easily  maintained.  But  the  difficulty  of 
separating  man  from  his  evil  influences  will  be  increased  if  he 
lean  towards  them;  and  if  he  entirely  refrain  from  co-operating 
in  the  means  of  rescue,  his  deliverance  is  impossil)le.  The 
obstacle,  however,  is  lessened  in  proportion  to  the  force  with 
which  he  inclines  to  what  is  good.  These  things  may  be  com- 
pared to  a  man  Avho  has  fallen  into  bad  society,  and  whom  his 
friend  endeavours  to  lead  away  from  them.  Such  society  is 
urgent  that  he  should  remain,  participate  in  their  coarse  enjoy- 
ments, and  treat  his  friend  with  indifference  and  disdain.  If  he 
incline  to  their  solicitation,  the  greater  is  the  difficulty  which 
his  friend  will  have  to  promote  his  rescue,  because  his  wicked 
associates  are  encouraged  by  his  inclination,  and  they  become 
more  importunate;  but  if  he  lean  towards  the  advice  of  his 
friend  they  are  discouraged,  and  he  is  finally  induced  to  leave 
them,  though  in  the  process  much  coarse  and  ribald  treatment 
may  be  displayed.  Such  wicked  society  is  man's  evil  influence, 
and  his  friend  is  the  Lord,  who  is  wishful  to  deliver  him.  Al- 
though, then,  temptations  are  inseparable  from  man's  present 
condition,  the  good  or  evil  which  results  is  largely  dependent  on 
the  way  in  which  he  employs  his  freedom.  Those  w^ho  use  it 
to  resist  impurity  are  preserved;  but  those  who  do  not  will  ob- 
viously perish.  Now  these  temptations  are,  in  the  Scriptures, 
represented  by  a  flood,  and  their  different  effects  upon  different 
classes  are  described  by  the  Noachic  people  having  risen  above 
them,  and  the  residue  having  sunk  beneath  them. 

Thus,  while  the  popular  view  of  the  subject  regards  it  to  have 
been  a  catastrophe  relating  to  the  bodies  and  the  natural  lives  of 
men,  we  look  upon  it  to  have  been  a  calamity  affecting  the  souls 
and  spiritual  lives  of  men,  and  thereby  to  the  injury  and  de- 
struction of  their  physical  existence.     It  is  written,  that  "evil 


336  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

shall  slay  the  wicked."  *  Experience  proves  that  this  is  true  of 
natural  things,  and  reason  shows  that  it  must  be  so  of  sj^iritual. 
The  event  called  the  flood  is  not  to  be  considered  less  real  to 
that  ancient  community,  and  all  that  vitally  concerned  them, 
because  it  is  not  regarded  to  have  taken  place  in  the  way  com- 
monly supposed.  We  believe  spiritual  things  to  be  as  real  as 
any  natural  things  can  possibly  be.  Indeed,  the  reality  of 
things  natural  is  contingent  upon  the  reality  of  things  spiritual, 
more  or  less  remotely.  The  flood,  considered  as  a  spiritual 
phenomenon,  was  equally,  nay,  more  afflicting  and  disastrous 
to  society,  than  any  notion  which  can  be  associated  with  the  cir- 
cumstance, considered  as  a  physical  occurrence.  Look  for  a 
moment  at  the  terrible  idea  of  mankind  having  been  so  power- 
fully inflamed  by  filthy  lusts  of  every  description,  that  they 
were  not  only  immersed  therein,  and  so  profaned  all  they  knew 
of  spiritual  and  religious  truth,  but  that  they  also  closed  up 
every  avenue  in  their  minds  by  which  heavenly  influences  could 
reach  and  operate  upon  their  remains.  A  reflection  upon  these 
melancholy  circumstances  cannot  fail  to  show  that  it  must  have 
brought  in  upon  them  destructive  influences  as  a  flood,  and 
have  overwhelmed  in  eternal  ruin  all  who  fell  therein.  This 
view  of  the  deluge  is  eminently  calculated  to  strike  the  reflect- 
ing with  dismay.  It  is  consistent  with  the  spiritual  design  of 
revelation,  to  disclose  to  posterity  spiritual  information  concern- 
ing the  moral  turpitude  of  their  predecessors,  and  the  influences 
which  their  conduct  and  condition  have  had  upon  the  world. 
It  makes  known  to  us  that  it  was  not  merely  a  scene  in  the  nat- 
ural world,  by  which  the  civilizing  influences  of  religion  were 
destroyed,  but  that  it  was  a  spiritual  circumstance  which  afflicted 
and  destroyed  society;  and  that,  upon  the  principle,  "where 
the  tree  falleth,  there  it  shall  be,"  f  it  must  have  induced  some 
inordinate  condition  even  in  the  infernal  world. 

But,  as  it  was  said,  the  Scriptures  speak  of  temptations  as  a 
flood.  For  instance,  the  Psalmist  says,  ' '  Save  me,  0  God ;  for 
the  waters  are  come  in  unto  my  soul.  I  sink  in  deep  mire, 
where  there  is  no  standing:  I  am  come  into  deep  waters,  where 
the  floods  overflow  me. — Let  not  the  ivaterflood  overflow  me, 
*  Psa.  xxxiv.  21.  t  Eccles.  xi.  3. 


ILLUSTRATIONS    FROM    THE    SCRIPTURES.  ^  337 

neither  let  the  deep  swallow  me  up."  *  Here  it  is  plain  that 
the  waters  which  were  come  into  his  soul,  and  the  waterfloods 
from  which  he  was  so  earnestly  wishful  to  be  delivered,  were 
not  floods  of  natural  water,  but  the  infestations  of  false  prin- 
ciples, by  which  he  was  so  severely  tempted  and  distressed. 
Again,  speaking  of  the  Lord's  protection  in  times  of  such  spir- 
itual danger,  it  is  said,  "  For  this  shall  every  one  that  is  godly 
pray  unto  thee  in  the  time  when  thou  may  est  be  found;  but  in 
the  floods  of  great  waters  they  shall  not  reach  him."  f  To  the 
same  purpose  it  is  written,  "He  bindeth  the  ^oods  from  over- 
flowing." [j;  So,  also,  in  the  prophet,  it  is  declared,  "When 
the  enemy  shall  come  in  like  a  flood,  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord 
shall  lift  up  a  standard  against  him."§  Jeremiah,  likewise, 
treating  of  the  temptations  which  arise  from  false  principles, 
signified  by  Egypt  an4  the  army  of  Pharaoh,  inquires,  "Who 
is  this  that  cometh  up  as  a  flood,  whose  waters  are  moved  as  the 
rivers  ?  Egypt  riseth  up  like  a  flood,  and  his  waters  are  moved 
like  the  rivers."  ||  Daniel,  when  predicting  that  the  Messiah 
should  be  cut  off,  and  that  the  city  and  sanctuary  would  be 
destroyed,  says,  "And  the  end  thereof  shall  be  with  a/oorZ";^ 
which  plainly  means,  that  those  evils  which  attend  the  rejection 
of  the  Messiah,  his  doctrine  and  worship,  will  terminate  in 
the  production  of  the  most  dangerous  temptations.  Amos, 
announcing  the  perversities  of  the  Jewish  Church,  describes  the 
Lord  as  saying,  ' '  Shall  not  the  land  tremble  for  this,  and  every 
one  mourn  that  dwelleth  therein  ?  and  it  shall  rise  up  Avholly 
as  a  flood ;  and  it  shall  be  cast  out  and  drowned,  as  by  the  flood 
of  Egypt."  *=^  Wliere,  by  the  land  rising  up  as  a  flood,  is" 
denoted  the  Church,  inflated  by  its  false  persuasions;  and  by 
its  being  cast  out  and  drowned  as  by  a  flood,  is  signified  the 
desolation  which  their  temptations  Avould  induce.  Many  other 
illustrations  of  this  idea  could  be  produced  from  the  Scriptures; 
we  will,  however,  just  advert  to  another.  The  Apocalypse, 
treating  of  the  Man-Child,  born  of  the  woman,  clothed  with  the 
sun,  by  which  was  represented  the  birth   of  genuine  truth  in 

*  Psa.  Ixix.  1,  2,  15.  f  Psa.  xxxii.  6,  amended  translation. 

I  Job  xxviii.  11.  §  Isa.  lix.  19. 

II  Jer.  xlvi.  7,  8.  Tf  Dan.  ix.  26.  **  Amos  viii.  8. 

24 


338  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

the  Church  from  heavenly  affection,  says,  "And  the  serpent 
cast  out  of  his  mouth  ivater  as  a  flood  after  the  woman,  that  he 
might  cause  her  to  be  carried  away  of  the  flood.  And  the  earth 
helped  the  woman,  and  the  earth  opened  her  mouth,  and 
swallowed  up  the  flood  which  the  dragon  cast  out  of  his 
mouth."*  Here,  by  the  serpent,  which  is  also  called  a 
dragon,  is  represented  the  sensual  condition  of  a  perishing 
church;  by  the  waters,  which  issued  out  of  its  mouth  as  a 
flood,  are  denoted  the  abundance  of  false  reasonings  and  per- 
suasions which  it  produces,  especially  with  the  view  of  over- 
whelming the  good  and  the  truth  by  which  it  is  about  to  be 
exposed.  By  the  earth,  which  helped  the  woman,  is  denoted  the 
new  Church,  which  receives  and  cherishes  heavenly  affections; 
the  earth  opening  its  mouth,  and  swallowing  up  the  flood  which 
the  dragon  cast  forth,  denoted  that  the  understanding  of  the 
people  of  this  new  Church  will  be  so  enlightened  by  truth  that 
they  will  be  capable  of  resisting  and  dissipating  all  the  tempta- 
tions which  sensual  reasonings  may  produce.  It  is,  then,  very 
evident  that  the  Scriptures  employ  the  idea  of  a  flood  to  repre- 
sent the  infestation  of  false  principles,  with  their  evil  conse- 
quences, and  that  those  who  resist  them  will  be  enlightened  and 
saved,  while  those  who  yield  to  them  are  benighted,  and  must 
perish. 

It  was  a  flood  of  this  description  in  which  the  antediluvians 
perished.  The  mere  circumstance  of  being  drowned  as  to  the 
body  is  no  corresponding  consequence  for  the  sins  of  the  soul. 
Many  good  men  have  so  died:  many  wicked  men  have  not  so 
'  suffered.  There  is  no  connection  between  such  a  natural  catas- 
trophe and  the  spiritual  state  of  the  people.  It  is  the  soul,  and 
its  condition,  of  which  the  Scriptures  treat.  The  principles 
which  give  it  everlasting  life,  and  the  perversities  which  produce 
its  eternal  death,  are  the  things  which  God  has  condescended  to 
reveal,  and  which  men  should  strive  to  know. 

But  these  conclusions  will  have  their  certainty  brought  out 
with  greater  clearness  if  we  inquire  into  the  meaning  of  what 
are  described  to  have  been  the  sources  of  this  catastrophe. 
These  sources  are  two, — the  breaking  up  of  the  fountains  of  the 
great  deep,  and  the  opening  of  the  windows  of  heaven,  f  Surely, 
*  Rev.  xii.  15,  16.  t  Gen.  vii.  11. 


SOURCES  OF  THE  DELUGE.  389 

every  one  whose  mind  is  not  entirely  pre-occiipied  with  tlie  idea 
of  a  physical  occurrence  being  intended,  must  see  that  these 
sentences  were  not  constructed  with  a  view  to  express  it.  The 
style  is  highly  tigurative,  and  resembles  very  closely  that  em- 
ployed by  the  prophets,  of  which  one  instance  will  suffice:  "  He 
who  fieeth  from  the  noise  of  the  fear  shall  fall  into  the  pit;  and 
he  that  cometh  out  of  the  midst  of  the  pit  shall  be  taken  in  the 
snare:  for  the 'windows  from  on  high  are  open,  and  the  foundations  of 
the  earth  do  shake.'" '-^  Neither  the  Mosaic  terrors  nor  those  of  the 
prophet  refer  to  any  natural  phenomena.  '  ^Foundations  of  the  great 
deep!"  What  is  there,  in  mundane  things,  answering  to  these 
expressions?  Conjectures  on  this  subject  were  abundant  a  cen- 
tury or  less  ago,  f  but  they  have  vanished  before  the  progress 
of  philosophy,  and  now,  nothing  that  can  with  any  reasonable- 
ness be  said  to  answer  the  description  is  known  to  science. 
^^  Windows  of  heaven!"     What  are  they  ?  J     Surely  the  phrase 

*Isa.  xxiv.  18. 

t  It  was  long  thought  to  be  a  vast  abyss  of  water  in  the  centre  of  the 
earth.  Many  speculations  upon  the  matter  may  be  seen  iu  King's  "Morsels 
of  Criticism,"  vol.  ii.,  pp.  355,  417.  Englefield,  with  a  view  to  find  a  suffi- 
cient quantity  of  water  to  cover  the  whole  earth  fifteen  cubits,  supposed  the 
globe  of  earth  to  consist  of  a  crust  of  solid  matter  one  thousand  miles  thick, 
enclosing  a  sea  or  body  of  water  two  thousand  miles  deep,  within  which  was 
a  central  nucleus  of  two  thousand  miles  in  diameter  ;  and  then  concluded 
that  he  had  found  about  one  hundred  and  thirty-seven  times  more  water 
than  would  have  been  required  for  the  submergence  of  the  earth.  Other 
philosophers  think  that_^rc,  and  not  water,  is  iu  the  centre  of  the  earth.  We 
have  nothing  to  say  about  these  speculations  and  calculations  :  it  is  requisite, 
in  the  first  place,  to  iuquire  for  the  facts.  The  conclusion  about  the  water  is 
arrived  at  on  supposititious  grounds  only,  for  which  there  are  no  philosophical 
data.  Dr.  P.  Smith  considers  the  phrase  to  mean  merely  the  general  collec- 
tion of  oceanic  waters. 

X  This  is  thought  to  be  a  Hebrew  phrase  for  the  sky.  It  is  interesting  to 
observe  the  frequency  with  which  modern  critics  endeavour  to  remove  the 
difficulties  of  expression  with  which  the  Scriptures  are  considered  to  abound, 
by  referring  them  to  oriental  genius.  It  is  found  to  be  exceedingly  conveni- 
ent so  to  do  ;  but  it  does  not  explain  the  matter.  We  have  still  to  ask.  Why 
was  that  mode  of  expression  so  peculiar  to  Eastern  genius?  and,  Wlieiice 
did  it  arise?  That  there  are  both  propriety  and  good  judgment  in  ascribing 
many  expressions  to  that  source,  may  be  readily  admitted  ;  nevertheless, 
their  figurative  character  remains ;  nor  is  the  circumstance  of  their  having 
been  originally  employed,  representatively,  to  denote  spiritual  things  at  all 


340  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

ought  not  to  be  understood  to  mean  the  clouds  of  the  earth, 
whence  it  is  known  the  showers  descend:  to  open  these,  when 
they  prevail,  is  to  disperse  them,  and  so  let  in  the  sunshine, 
and  not  pour  down  thc^ir  rain.  Moreover,  the  clouds  are  Avaterv 
vapours  originally  derived  from  the  earth,  and  the  densest  of 
them  will  not  contain  more  water  than  would  cover  very  slightly 
the  locality  in  which  it  may  be  discharged.  If  the  whole  atmos- 
phere surrounding  the  earth  were  saturated  with  water  to  its 
fullest  capacity,  and  then  precipitated,  the  result,  according  to 
Mr.  Rhind,*  Avould  not  deluge  the  earth  more  than  seven 
inches.  Rain  can  only  contribute  to  the  production  of  a  flood 
in  a  comparatively  small  district.  Numerous  destructive  in- 
stances of  this  kind  are  well  known;  they  were  occasioned  by 
continued  evaporation  from  the  ocean,  with  successive  and  long- 
sustained  discharges  of  rain.  But  this  could  not  be  universal. 
The  laws  of  evaporation,  and  the  capacity  of  the  atmosphere 
for  holding  water,  render  it  impossible  except  by  a  miracle;  and 
that  we  have  no  right  to  invent,  in  the  absence  of  all  proper 
authority  for  so  doing.  But  as  the  earth  supplies  the  clouds 
with  all  the  rain  that  ever  descends  from  them,  they,  as  the 
unndoivs  of  heaven,  cannot  be  considered  as  any  source  separate 
from  the  fountains  of  the  great  deep,  supposing  them  to  mean  the 
oceanic  waters;  nevertheless  the  different  sentences  must  be  in- 
tended to  express  some  distinction.  If  the  phrase,  "windows 
of  heaven,"  be  regarded  merely  as  an  orientalism,  denoting  the 
clouds  and  their  rain,  and  if  it  be  remembered  that  those  clouds 
can  have  no  water  to  precipitate  but  what  is  first  raised  by 
evaporation  from  the  earth,  then  we  are  compelled  to  say  the 
flood  was  produced  by  the  breaking  up  of  the  fountains  of  the 
great  deep  onhj ;  because  the  deep  was  the  only  source  whence  the 
water  was  supplied,  the  rain  l^eing  merely  a  means  for  its  dis- 
tribution: but  this,  we  hold,  is  not  in  agreement  with  the  design 

disturbed  by  it.  Therefore,  in  referring  peculiarities  of  expression  to  be 
found  in  the  Scriptures  to  the  genius  of  the  people,  or  to  the  idiomatic  char- 
acter of  the  language  spoken  by  them,  and  from  which  such  expressions  are 
derived  ;  and  considering  them  to  mean  certain  natural  things,  poetically 
expressed,  their  spiritual,  which  is  their  chief  design,  must  not  be  over- 
loolced. 

*  Rhind's  "  Age  of  the  Earth,"  p.  100. 


THE    WINDOWS    OF    HEAVEN.  341 

of  the  narrative,  which  plainly  presents  two  distinct  sources  of 
the  catastrophe,  and  thus  shows  us  that  natural  things  are  not 
intended  to  be  described. 

When  it  is  rernemljered  that  the  flood  is  significant  of  tempta- 
tions in  general,  and  it  is  known  that  they  arise  from  two 
specific  causes,  which  are  evil  in  the  will  and  falsehood  in  the 
understanding,  it  will  not  be  difficult  to  find  the  proper  relatives 
for  those  two  phrases,  namely, — fountains  of  tiie  great  deep 
being  broken  up,  and  windows  of  heaven  being  opened;  for  by 
the  former,  it  will  be  seen,  is  denoted  extreme  temptation 
arising  from  evil  influences  upon  the  will;  and  by  the  latter  is 
signified  severe  temptation  operating  by  falsehood  upon  the 
understanding. 

The  will  of  man  is  compared  to  the  deep,  because  it  is  so  in 
reference  to  the  things  of  love.  In  our  own  language  it  is 
employed  as  a  figure  with  that  signification.  Those  in  whom 
intense  affection  is  excited  are  said  to  love  deeply.  It  matters 
little  whether  the  object  of  it  be  good  or  not,  it  is  the  dep^/t  of 
the  love,  and  not  the  character  of  the  object,  which  is  spoken 
of.  A  like  mode  of  expression  is  frequently  employed  in 
the  Scriptures:  great  sin  is  called  deep  corruption,*  and  the 
rebellion  of  Israel  is  said  to  have  been  a  deep  revolt,  f  The 
will,  as  a  seat  and  receptacle  of  affection,  is  influenced  by  a 
variety  of  conflicting  sentiments  and  feelings,  which  keep  it  in 
continual  agitation,  and  in  this  respect  it  is  also  as  the  deep, 
considered  as  an  ocean:  sometimes  those  feelings  are  more 
tranquil  and  subdued,  at  others  they  are  more  tumultuous  and 
fearful;  and  in  this,  likewise,  it  presents  an  analogy  to  the  deep. 
It  is  in  consequence  of  this  signification,  that  the  prophet, 
speaking  of  the  Assyrian,  says,  "  The  waters  made  him  great, 
the  deep  set  him  up  on  high ;  "  J  ])ecause  by  the  Assyrian  is 
denoted  the  rational  jn-inciple.  The  waters  are  declared  to 
make  him  great,  because  truths  regenerate  and  make  it  good; 
and  the  deep  is  declared  to  set  him  up  on  high,  to  signify  the 
elevation  which  is  attained  by  the  activity  of  the  2vill.  The 
deep  before  us  is  called  great,  to  denote  that  it  had  been 
good,  for  greatness  is  goodness  in  a  spiritual  sense;  and  the 
fountains  thereof  refer  to  and  signify  all  those  affections  by 

*  Hos.  ix.  9.  t  Isa.  xxxi.  6.  J  Ezek.  xxxi.  4. 


342  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

which  that  characteristic  had  been  procured.  Every  one  sees 
that  affection  is  a  spiritual  fountain,  through  which  arise 
innumerable  joys.  But  we.  are  informed  that  all  these  were 
broken  u]):  the  will,  as  a  will  for  good,  was  now  disrupted,  and 
had  become  a  lust;  and  the  affections,  as  the  fountain  through 
which  had  arisen  orderly  delight  and  blessedness,  were  now 
entirely  destroyed.  Therefore  it  is  evident  that  the  breaking 
up  of  the  fountains  of  the  great  deep  denotes  extreme  tempta- 
tions, arising  from  evil  influences  upon  the  will. 

But  while  the  fountains  of  the  great  deep  signify  the  affec- 
tions of  the  will,  the  windows  of  heaven  denote  the  perceptions 
of  the  understanding.  It  is  by  those  perceptions  that  we  are 
enabled  to  behold  anything  (^f  spiritual  truth,  and  the  under- 
standing, when  enlightened  thereby,  is  as  heaven,  by  virtue  of 
the  wisdom  that  is  present.  They  are  the  wdndows  through 
which  the  mind  derives  all  its  illustrations;  and  they  are  the 
windows  of  heaven  Avhen  they  are  turned  to  heavenly  things, 
and  admit  the  light  of  heavenly  truth  to  illustrate  the  under- 
standing. This  had  been  the  case  with  them  in  previous  and 
better  times,  though  it  was  not  so  at  tlie  period  wliich  is  before 
us.  The  will,  having  become  a  lust,  would  needs  corrupt  the 
understanding  also.  It  is  a  law  that  where  the  deeds  are  evil, 
darkness  Avill  be  preferred  to  light.*  Those  windows  are  said 
to  have  been  opened,  yet  not  for  a  good,  but  for  a  destructive 
purpose.  This  opening  implies  an  unguarded  exposure,  and  so 
a  carelessness  as  to  what  may  enter,  in  which  case  falsehood  is 
sure  to  find  its  way.  Though  they  were  open,  it  was  not  to 
receive  heavenly  light,  but  to  admit  some  destructive  influence: 
this  is  plain  from  the  whole  tenor  of  the  narrative.  The  nature 
of  that  influence  must  have  been  false  reasonings  and  persua- 
sions, and  these  produced  extreme  temptations  and  delusions 
in  the  understanding. 

It  was  when  the  things  of  the  will  and  understanding  were 
so  entirely  disarranged  and  perverted,  that  the  rain  is  said  to 
have  been  ujoon  the  earth  forty  days;  because  by  the  rain  is 
here  not  meant  rain,  but  the  influx  of  evil  and  false  principles 
into  these  two  faculties  of  the  human  mind.  This  must  be 
evident  to  all  who  can  see  the  flood  to  have  been  an  inundation 

*  John  iii.  19. 


RAIN    SIGNIFICANT    OF    INFLUX.  343 

of  wicked  persuasions  and  delights,  which  the  Psalmist  calls 
the  floods  of  ungodly  men  which  made  him  afraid. 

Rain,  when  mentioned  in  a  good  sense  in  the  Scriptures, 
denotes  the  influence  of  holy  enjoyments  from  the  Lord:  hence 
they  are  called  ' '  showers  of  hlessing  "  ;  *  and  among  many 
features  of  his  Divine  care  for  the  Church  is  that  of  ' '  making  it 
soft  with  showers  ";t  and  he  himself  is  said  to  "come  down 
like  rain  upon  the  mown  grass."  J  These  blessings  are  com- 
pared to  rain  because  there  is  an  analogy  between  the  natural 
effects  of  gentle  and  seasonable  showers,  and  the  spiritual  results 
of  orderly  and  refreshing  influx.  In  a  literal  sense  it  irrigates 
the  soil,  increases  its  fertility,  and  renders  it  capable  of  producing 
the  food  which  is  requisite  for  our  ph3'sical  sustenance;  in  a 
spiritual  sense  it  softens  the  asperity  of  man,  improves  his 
docility,  and  enlarges  his  power  of  bringing  forth  the  meat 
necessary  for  promoting  life  eternal. 

But  when  rain  is  spoken  of  in  an  opposite  sense,  and  from 
which  disastrous  consequences  ensue,  as  in  the  case  of  the 
subject  before  us,  then  it  denotes  the  influx  of  impurity  from 
the  infernal  world.  The  context  Avill  always  determine  which  is 
the  character  of  the  influx  treated  of.  §  While  some  rains  are 
gentle  and  eminently  useful,  others  are  violent  and  lamentably 
destructive;  and  tl^e  latter  are  frequently  employed  in  the  Scrip- 
tures as  the  emblems  of  spiritual  desolation.  As  for  instance, 
it  is  written,  "  The  tabernacle  shall  be  for  a  covert  from  storm 
and  from  rain";  II  where  the  tabernacle  is  mentioned  for  the 
Church;  and  this,  considered  in  reference  to  its  wisdom  and 
virtue,  was  to  be  a  protection  from  the  storm,  because  by  that, 
in  respect  to  wind,  is  denoted  a  tumultuous  influx  of  false  per- 
suasions: it  was  also  to  be  a  shelter  from  the  rain,  because  by 
that  is  represented  a  destructive  influx  of  evil  loves.  Ezekiel, 
speaking  of  those  who  daub  the  wall  with  untempered  mortar, — 
by  which  is  to  be  understood  all  such  as  confirm  themselves  in 

*  Ezek.  xxxiv.  26.  f  Psa.  Ixv.  10.  J  Psa.  Ixxii.  6. 

?  Influx  is  a  flowing  down  or  into  a  subject,  and  is  distinguished  from  in- 
fluence, which  simply  means  acting  upon  a  subject.  In  the  above  case  it 
denotes  the  inflowing  of  wicked  spirits  into  the  minds  of  men  with  a  view  to 
their  destruction. 

II  Isa.  iv.  6. 


344  THE   WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION, 

false  ideas  of  religion  by  the  fallacies  of  appearances, — repre- 
sents the  Lord  as  saying,  "There  shall  be  an  overflowing  shower 
in  mine  anger,  and  great  hailstones  in  my  fury  to  consume 
it";*  where  by  an  overwhelming  shower  is  denoted  a  destruc- 
tive influence.  So  also,  in  his  prophecy  against  Gog,  it  is  de- 
clared, "  I  will  rain  upon  him,  and  upon  his  bands,  and  upon 
the  many  people  that  are  with  him,  an  overflowing  rain";f 
where,  again,  by  an  overflowing  rain  is  plainly  meant  an  in- 
undation of  pernicious  influences,  by  which  they  would  be  de- 
stroyed. The  Lord  said,  "  Every  one  that  heareth  these  sayings 
of  mine,  and  doeth  them  not,  shall  be  likened  unto  a  foolish  man, 
which  built  his  house  upon  the  sand:  and  the  rain  descended, 
and  the  floods  came,  and  the  winds  blew,  and  beat  upon  that 
house;  and  it  fell:  and  great  was  the  fall  of  it."  J  Here  the 
building  of  the  house  is  another  form  under  which  the  devel- 
opment of  the  Church  with  man  is  represented.  When  this  is 
grounded  on  genuine  truth,  represented  by  the  permanent  roch^ 
it  is  capable  of  resisting  and  outliving  any  storm  of  temptation 
by  which  it  may  be  assailed;  but  when  it  has  its  foundation  in 
shifting  falsehood,  denoted  by  the  unsteady  sand,  then,  when 
storms  of  temptation  arise,  it  is  eminently  unsafe,  and  it  will  be 
sure  to  perish  when  the  rains  thereof  descend,  the  floods  come, 
and  the  winds  blow. 

Other  passages  could  easily  be  produced  to  show  that  rain, 
when  spoken  of  in  a  destructive  sense,  is  significant  of  those 
dangerous  influences  which  overwhelm  those  in  whom  the  will 
for  good  has  been  destroyed  and  the  understanding  of  truth  un- 
cared  for:  but  these  are  sufficient.  They  will  convince  the  re- 
flecting that  temptations,  and  their  desolating  consequences  on 
the  souls  of  men,  and  so  the  complete  destruction  of  the  most 
ancient  Church,  are  the  subjects  treated  of  under  the  flgure  of 
the  deluge.  This,  indeed,  is  still  farther  evinced  by  the  circum- 
stance of  its  being  said  that  ' '  rain  was  upon  the  earth  forty 
days  and  forty  nights";  for  that  number,  in  the  Scriptures,  is 
continually  associated  with  subjects  in  which  temptations  are 
conspicuous.  Of  Scripture  numbers,  considered  in  the  abstract, 
we  have  already  spoken;  §  and  many  instances  might  be  ad- 

*  Ezek.  xiii.  13.  f  Ezek.  xxxviii.  22. 

X  Matt.  vii.  26,  27.  I  See  pp.  242,  259. 


RAIN   FORTY    DAYS   AND    NIGHTS.  345 

duced,  in  which  it  is  evident  that  natural  computations  are 
referred  to  merely  for  the  sake  of  their  sj)iritual  sense.  The 
"^ Molten  Sea"  is  said  to  have  been  "ten  cubits  from  the  one 
brim  to  the  other;  and  a  line  of  tliirty  cubits  did  compass  it 
round  about";*  but  the  number  of  the  circumference  does  not 
geometrically  answer  to  that  of  the  diameter.  So  also  it  is 
written  that  "the  sojourning  of  the  children  of  Israel,  who 
dwelt  in  Egypt,  was  four  hundred  and  thirty  years  " ;  f  but  this 
period  does  not  agree  with  the  Scripture  chronology,  and  it  is 
mentioned  only  because  it  was  requisite  to  the  correct  expression 
of  the  spiritual  sense;  |  and  the  forty  days'  and  nights'  continu- 
ance of  the  rain  is  intended  to  denote  the  severity  of  the  temp- 
tation, rather  than  the  time  of  its  duration.  '  That  the  Scriptures 
employ  the  number  fortij  in  connection  with  tlie  subjects  of  temp- 
tation is  remarkably  evident.  Of  the  children  of  Israel  it  is 
said  that  they  should  ' '  wander  in  the  wilderness  forty  years, 
until  the  carcases  of  their  fathers  were  wasted.  After  the 
number  of  the  days  in  which  ye  searched  the  land,  even  forty 
days,  each  day  for  a  year,  shall  ye  bear  your  iniquities,  even 
forty  years. ' '  §  The  Lord  is  said  to  have  l)een  grieved  forty 
years  with  that  generation.  ||  It  is  written  of  Egypt  that  it 
should  be  ' '  utterly  waste  and  desolate,  from  the  tower  of  Syene 
even  unto  the  border  of  Ethiopia.  No  foot  of  man  shall  pass 
through  it,  nor  foot  of  beast  shall  pass  through  it,  neither 
shall  it  be  inhabited  foi^ty  years."  ^  Jonah  cried,  and  said 
unto  the  Ninevites,  "Yet  forty  days,  and  Nineveh  shall  be 
overthrown."**    The  prophet  was  directed  to  lie  upon  his  right 

*  1  Kings  Yii.  23.  f  Exod.  xii.  40. 

X  This  is  shown  by  the  Rev.  R.  Hindmarsh,  as  follows:  "Moses  sprang 
from  Amram,  Amram  from  Kohath,  and  Kohath  from  Levi,  and  Kohath  went 
with  his  father  Levi  into  Egypt  (Gen.  xlvi.  11).  Now  the  age  of  Kohath  was 
a  hundred  and  thirty-three  years  (Exod.  vi.  18)  ;  the  age  of  Amram  one  liuu- 
dred  and  thirty-seven  years  (verse  20)  ;  and  the  age  of  Moses,  when  he  stood 
before  Pharaoh,  eighty  years  (Exod.  vii.  7).  All  these  years  added  together 
make  only  three  hundred  and  fifty,  which  are  considerably  short  of  four 
hundred  and  thirty,  and  therefore  it  is  impossible  the  children  of  Israel 
could  have  been  four  hundred  and  thirty  years  in  Egypt." — Letters  to  Br. 
Priestley,  Second  Edit.,  p.  IfiO. 

2  Numb.  xiv.  33,  34.  ||  Psa.  xcv.  10  H  Ezek  xxix.  10,  11. 

**  Jonah  iii.  4. 


346  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

side,  and  bear  the  ini(|uity  of  tlie  house  of  Judah  forty  days.  * 
Moses  "abode  in  the  mowni Jortxj  days  awiX  forty  nights,  neither 
did  he  eat  bread  nor  drink  water,''  f  praying  for  the  people 
lest  they  should  be  destroyed.  It  is  said  that  the  people  "were 
led  forty  years  in  the  wilderness,  to  huin})le  them,  and  to  prove 
them."  X  In  all  these  instances  we  find  that  the  number  forty 
is  associated  with  some  afflicting  circumstance;  and  when  it  is 
farther  remembered  that  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  "was  in  tlie  wil- 
derness forty  days,  tempted  of  Satan;  and  was  with  the  wild 
beasts, "§  men  can  no  longer  have  any  scepticism  about  the 
number /oWy  denoting  the  severity  of  temptation;  and,  conse- 
(juently,  tliat  the  rain  for  forty  days  and  forty  nights  in  the  case 
of  the  deluge  represented  the  painful  sufferings  of  temptation 
in  every  state,  whether  of  light  or  darkness.  This  was  the 
circumstance  in  which  we  conceive  the  wicked  antediluvians  to 
have  perished:  they  yielded  to  its  urgency,  and  so  were  finally 
overwhelmed:  while  the  people  called  Noah  were  saved,  because 
they  resisted  and  overcame  it. 

These  different  effects  of  temptation,  which  may  be  easily  con- 
ceived, are  represented  to  us  by  other  circumstances  recorded  in 
the  Scriptures.  Those  which  attended  the  journeyings  of  the 
children  of  Israel  in  the  wilderness  toward  the  land  of  Canaan 
afford  a  remarkable  example.  Their  looking  back  to  Egypt, 
and  murmuring  for  its  fleshpots;  their  idolatry  and  backslid- 
ings;  their  vicissitudes  and  disasters;  their  plagues  and  desola- 
tions, are  all  plain  evidences  of  their  having  sustained  tempta- 
tions. But  the  history  of  those  events,  viewed  in  its  complex, 
is  intended  to  show  forth  the  two  different  and  general  effects 
of  temptations  upon  distinct  classes  of  mind  and  character, 
namely,  the  exaltation  of  some  and  the  destruction  of  others. 
The  salutary  effects  of  temptations  are  exhibited  to  us  in  those 
who,  having  endured  and  overcome  the  hardships  of  the  desert, 
were  finally  introduced  into  the;  ])romised  land;  and  their  de- 
structive consequences  are  disclosed  in  the  distresses  which  befell 
those  who  perished  in  the  wilderness.  All  who  were  above 
twenty  years  old  on  their  departure  out  of  Egypt  died  in  the 
wilderness,   witli  the  exception  of   Caleb  and   Joshua.     Those 

*  Ezek.  iv.  6.  t  Ueut.  ix.  9. 

X  Deut.  viii.  2.  I  Mark  i.  13. 


Peter's  reference  to  the  deluge.  347 

who  entcird  iiitt^  Canaan  were  either  a  new  or  more  obedient 
race.  The  extinction  of  the  former  represented  the  destructive 
effects  of  temptations  on  those  who  yield  to  them:  the  preserva- 
tion of  the  latter,  and  their  introduction  into  the  land  of  i)romise, 
exhibit  the  salutary  results  of  temptations  on  those  who  resist 
and  overcome  them.  They  produce  death  on  those  who  follow 
their  own  heart's  lusts,  but  they  induce  a  superior  degree  of 
spiritual  life  in  all  who  endure  and  conquer  them.  One  class 
perished  in  the  disasters  of  the  wilderness,  another  class  were 
rescued  from  them,  and  entered  into  Canaan.  There  are,  then, 
several  parallelisms  between  the  circumstances  which  attended 
the  formation  of  the  Israelitish  Church  in  Canaan,  and  the  es- 
tablishment of  the  ancient  Church  with-  Xoah.  The  difference 
is  more  in  outward  form  than  in  essential  things.  Thus  the 
land  of  Canaan  was  to  the  Israelites  who  were  saved  from 
the  dangers  of  the  wilderness  what  the  ark  was  to  Xoah,  who 
was  preserved  from  the  inundation  of  the  flood.  The  death  of 
those  who  died  in  the  desert  was  to  the  formation  of  the  Church 
in  Canaan  what  the  destruction  of  the  antediluvians  was  to 
the  estaljlishment  of  the  Church  with  Noah.  Caleb  and  Joshua, 
being  the  only  sur\'iving  adults  who  were  delivered  from  the 
bondage  of  the  Egyptians  and  the  trials  of  the  wilderness,  were, 
to  the  planting  of  the  Israeliti.sh  Church,  wliat  Noah  and  his 
house,  as  the  only  parties  who  escaped  from  the  rains  and  the 
flood  of  the  ancient  world,  were  to  the  covenant  then  established. 
These  parallelisms  arise,  as  we  have  said,  from  tlie  similarity 
of  essential  ideas  intended  to  be  included  in  both  narrations, 
though  the  outward  structure  of  the  one  is  a  real,  and  that  of 
the  other  only  a  figurative  history. 

Concerning  the  deluge,  as  a  temptation  from  which  the 
Noachic  people  were  delivered,  Peter  says,  ' '  The  long-suffering 
of  God  waited  in  the  days  of  Noah,  while  the  ark  was  a  pre- 
paring, wherein  few,  that  is,  eight  souls  were  saved  by  water. 
The  like  figure*  whereunto  even  baptism  doth  aLso  now  save 

*1  Pet.  iii.  20,  21.  The  original  -woid  here  nsed  is  airirtrrov,  antitype. 
The  theological  meaning  of  the  terms  type  and  antitype  is,  that  the  type  is  an 
impression,  image,  or  representation  of  some  model,  which  is  termed  the 
antitype.  But  there  is  some  reason  to  ask  whether  this  is  not  an  inversion 
of  the  true  scriptnral  sense?    If  the  water  by  which. Noah  was  saved  were 


348  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

US."  Here  the  Apostle  calls  the  circumstance  of  l)eing  saved 
by  water  a  figure  of  baptism,  because  by  the  waters  of  baptism 
are  signified  purification,  effected  by  means  of  temptations 
sustained  and  conquered.  Calling  the  deluge  a  figure  affords 
no  evidence  as  to  the  real  character  of  the  event.  Things 
purely  spiritual  can  be  types,  equally  with  things  natural. 
Moses  was  shown  the  pattern  of  the  tabernacle  in  a  vision  on 
the  mount.  *  As,  then,  the  Apostle  aflirms  that  the  waters  of 
Noah  were  a  figure  of  the  waters  of  baptism,  and  as  the  waters 
of  baptism  are  a  symbol  of  i^urification  acquired  by  overcoming 
temptation,  it  follows,  upon  his  evidence  also,  that  such  was 
the  signification  of  the  deluge  from  which  Noah  was  saved. 
Those  who  perished  in  it  were  those  who  yielded  to  the 
abominations  to  which  they  were  incited.  The  death  which 
they  suffered,  as  being  that  which  is  primarily  treated  of,  was 
of  a  spiritual  kind,  being  induced  by  the  love  and  life  of  evil. 
This  is  the  death  of  Avhich  the  Scriptures  speak  as  the  event  to 
be  avoided :  "Be  not  afraid  of  them  that  kill  the  body,  and 
after  that  have  no  more  that  they  can  do.  But  I  will  forewarn 
you  Avhom  ye  shall  fear:  Fear  him,  which  after  he  hath  killed 
hath  jDOAver  to  cast  into  hell;  yea,  I  say  unto  you.  Fear  him."  f 
He  who  killeth  and  casteth  into  hell  is  the  devil,  that  is,  evil; 
for  this,  in  its  complex,  is  so  personified:  to  fear  him  is  to 
oppose  evil  influences;  wherefore  it  is  written,  "Resist  the 
devil,  and  he  will  flee  from  you."  |  Tlie  antediluvians  did 
not  so  fear  and  resist:  their  wickedness  was  great  in  the  earth, 
and  every  thought  of  the  imagination  of  their  heart  was  evil 
continually;  hence  they  perished. 

It  is  to  be  observed  that  it  was  every  living  substance  which  the 
Lord  had  made  that  Avas  about  to  be  destroyed.  That  it  is 
important  to  remark.  It  is,  indeed,  said  that  the  Lord  would 
do  it,  because  it  appears  to  the  wicked,  when,  by  ignorance  and 
misdoing,  they  bring  calamity  upon  themselves,  that  the  Lord 
is  its  author.     Of  this  mode  of  speaking  of  the  Divine  character 

the  antitype  of  that  by  which  baptism  saves  ns,  then  the  waters  of  baptism 
were  the  type.  Thus,  that  which  succeeds  au  impression  and  proceeds  from 
a  model  is  really  the  type.  In  John  xx.  25,  it  is  said,  rbv  rvnov  tuv  rjluv, 
which  literally  means,  the  type  of  the  nails. 

*  Exod.  XXV.  40  ;  Heb.  viii.  5.  f  Luke  xii.  4,  5.  |  Jas.  iv.  7. 


GOD    NOT    THE    AUTHOR    OF    CALAMITIES.  349 

we  have  already  treated.  All  that  the  Lord  made  was  pro- 
nounced to  have  been  very  good:  there  is  no  intimation  of  the 
animal  or  vegetable  world  having  departed  from  its  original 
excellence;  nor  is  there  any  reasonable  ground  to  suppose  that 
any  such  things  which  may  have  survived  the  flood  could  have 
regarded  the  extermination  of  their  predecessors  as  a  calamity. 
It  was  man  alone  who  had  strayed  from  the  ways  of  purity  and 
knowledge,  and  he  alone  could  contemplate  death  as  a  terrible 
catastrophe.  The  destruction  of  the  insentient  and  irrespon- 
sible objects  of  nature  cannot  be  reasonably  attributed  to  God, 
from  whose  wisdom  and  goodness  they  have  proceeded.  As 
the  Creator  of  all  that  is  good,  he  cannot  also  be  the  destroyer  ! 
His  continual  efforts  are,  according  to  the  Scriptures,  to  pre- 
serve and  bless,  to  remove  the  evil  and  increase  the  good.  He, 
therefore,  cannot  destroy  Avhat  he  has  really  made;  such  an  act 
would  imply  a  condemnation  of  his  own  wisdom.  It  is  evil 
which  the  Lord  is  solicitous  to  remove,  so  far  as  it  can  be  done 
consistently  with  man's  freedom  and  responsibility.  This  evil 
he  did  not  make,  although  there  have  been  men  who  have  so 
believed  and  taught.*  Wicked  persons,  so  far  as  they  acknowl- 
edge God,  believe  him  to  be  the  author  of  the  calamities  they 
bring  upon  themselves.  Such  a  false  position  is  a  consequence 
of  the  inverted  state  of  their  mental  character.  Job's  wife  so 
regarded  the  affliction  of  her  husband,  and  bade  him  "curse 
God,  and  die";f  but  she  talked  as  one  of  the  foolish  women. 
Nevertheless,  the  providences  by  which  the  Lord  hinders  the 
manifestation  of  particular  evils,  and  so  causes  their  cessation 
and  removal,  are,  by  such  persons,  considered  as  the  destruc- 
tion, by  God,  of  what  he  himself  has  made.  The  passage, 
then,  which  represents  the  Lord  as  saying,  "Every  living  sub- 

*  "  If  God  foresaw  tliat  Jndas  would  be  a  traitor,  Judas  necessarily  became 
a  traitor,  nor  was  it  in  his  power  to  be  otherwise." — Martin  Luther.  See 
De  Servo  Arbitrio,  fol.  460. 

"God  not  only  foresaw  that  Adam  would  fall,  but  ordained  that  he 
should." — Calvin.     Inst.,  b.  3,  chap,  xxiii.,  sec.  7. 

"God  is  the  author  of  every  action  which  is  sinful,  by  his  irresistible 
will." — Dr.  Twiss,  part  iii.,  p.  21. 

What  shocking  and  detestable  sentiments  ! 

t  Job  ii.  9. 


350  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

stance  that  I  have  made  will  I  destroy,"  refers  to  the  dissipa- 
tion of  those  evil  principles  which  had  gained  a  fierce  ascendency 
over  society,  and,  so  far  as  this  could  not  be  effected  without  it, 
the  permission  of  means  Ijy  which  society  itself  was  to  be  dis- 
solved. It  was  not  the  things  of  orderly  nature,  but  the  prin- 
ciples which  had  disordered  humanity,  that  had  to  be  destroyed. 
These  had  become  living  substances  with  men;  and  men,  in  the 
midst  of  their  wickedness,  regarded  them  as  God's  creation: 
and  this  is  the  reason  why  he  is  said  to  have  made  them.  They 
were  opposed  to  his  merciful  design  in  our  creation,  and,  there- 
fore, the  permission  of  means  for  the  removal  of  obstacles 
which  stood  in  the  way  of  manifesting  his  good  providence  is 
perfectly  consistent  with  that  clemency  and  wisdom  which  regard 
eternal  ends  in  all  they  do. 

But  what  were  the  means  so  permitted  ?  They  were  the 
waters  of  temptation.  Evil,  having  become  an  infixed  principle 
in  man,  attracted  corresponding  influences  from  the  infernal 
world.  Those  influences  destroy  all  who  give  themselves 
up  to  their  impulses  and  suggestions;  though,  when  tht^y  are 
resisted  and  conquered,  good  enters  into  man,  and  he  becomes 
exalted.  For,  by  temptation,  man  is  brought  acquainted  with 
his  evils,  since  he  cannot  be  tempted  to  anything  unless  he  is  in 
some  measure  previously  inclined  to  it:  thus,  temptations  act  as 
a  sort  of  revelation  to  man,  as  before  observed,  informing  him 
of  the  evils  which  he  loves.  If  he  do  not  resist  them,  then  of 
course  they  triumph,  and  he  falls:  this  was  the  case  with  the 
antediluvians  who  perished;  but  if  he  repulse  them  and  conquer, 
then  his  evils  are  so  dispersed  that  goodness  and  truth  from  the 
Lord  can  flow  into  his  affection  and  thought,  and  so  produce 
salvation.  This  was  the  case  with  Noah,  and  it  became  the 
ground  on  which  the  Lord  could  establish  a  covenant  with  him. 
When  ^'■the  waters  increased,'''  "the  ark  went  up  " ;  that  is,  when 
temptations  were  urgent,  the  men  of  the  Church  acquired,  by 
their  resistance,  a  spiritual  elevation:  but  when  "the  waters 
prevailed,"  "the  high  hills  were  covered";  by  which  we  are 
informed  that,  Avhen  temptation  conquered,  good  was  over- 
whelmed. The  inundation  of  every  good  from  the  Lord  is  rep- 
resented by  "the  covering  of  all  the  high  hills  that  were  under 
the  whole  heaven."     Hills  denote  elevated  principles:  hence  we 


THE    HIGH    HILL    COVERED.  351 

read  of  the  hill  of  the  Lord,  and  the  mountain  of  his  holiness;  * 
and  that  to  cover  them  signifies  to  overwhelm  them,  is  evident 
without  farther  explanation.  How  fearful  was  this  state  of 
temptation  !  yea,  how  awfully  destructive  was  its  character  ! 
For  in  obtaining  an  ascendency  over  the  moral  sentiments  and 
spiritual  hopes  of  men,  we  are  informed  that  "all  flesh  died 
that  moved  upon  the  earth,  both  of  fowls,,  and  of  cattle,  and  of 
beasts,  and  of  every  creeping  thing  that  creepeth  upon  the  earth, 
and  every  man."  f  This  serial  statement  of  the  death  of  all 
animated  nature  is  intended  to  express  the  extinction  of  all  those 
spiritual  principles  of  evil  and  falsehood  which  had  become 
living  things  with  the  antediluvian  people,  and  which  gave  to 
them  a  peculiar  malignity  of  character. 

It  is  exceedingly  difficult  to  conceive  how  the  death  of  all 
natural  creatures  should  have  been  involved  in  the  transgression 
of  man  !  What  had  the  irresponsible  beasts  done  that  they 
must  perish  ?  It  does  not  remove  the  difficulty  to  say  that  God 
willed  it  so:  he  could  not  have  willed  it  without  a  sufficient 
reason;  for  all  he  does  i)roceeds  from  intelligence,  and  regards  a 
moral.  The  narrative  gives  no  reason;  and  reason  finds  it  diffi- 
cult to  see  what  moral  could  be  inculcated  l:)y  such  a  course. 
Some  may  say  it  was  to  display  the  terribleness  of  God's  anger  ! 
We  have  no  sympathy  with  such  a  notion.  He  creates  to  sus- 
tain by  laws  of  preservation  and  perpetuation,  and  in  no  case  to 
destroy.  The  change  and  dissolution  to  which  material  things 
are  sul)ject  arise  from  the  action  of  laws  peculiar  to  their  exis- 
tence, and  they  do  not  properly  come  within  the  meaning  of  tlie 
word  destroy  as  it  is  here  employed.  There  is  no  perceptible 
connection  l^etween  the  infliction  of  death  upon  the  beasts  of 
the  earth,  and  the  punishment  of  man's  iniquity,  unless,  per- 
haps, in  cases  where  they  are  viewed  as  property,  which  will 
hardly  be  contended  for  in  the  present  case.  But  why  should 
this  infliction  have  ])een  upon  the  terrestrial  creatures  only? 
Why  were  the  marine  animals  to  escape  ?  as  they  must  have 
done,  because  the  means  adopted  for  the  supposed  destruction 
of  others  could  not  have  exterminated  them.  If  terrestrial 
beasts  must  die  in  consequence  of  man's  transgression,  why 
were  the  fishes  spared?     It  is  said  that  all  the  fowls  perished; 

*  Psa.  xxiv.  3;  xlviii.   1;  Isa.  ii.  3.  f  Gen.  vii.  21. 


352  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

but  as  there  is  a  great  variety  of  aquatic  birds,  which  would 
scarcely  have  been  destroyed  by  the  rising  of  the  waters,  is  it 
not  highly  probable  that  they  escaped  the  danger  ?  Interroga- 
tories of  this  nature  might  be  indefinitely  extended,  because 
they  are  founded  on  the  idea  of  the  narrative  describing  a  phy- 
sical circumstance,  which  we  think  these  investigations  show  to 
be  a  mistaken  view  of  it.  The  fact  that  it  is  not  a  literal  his- 
tory, but  the  description  of  spiritual  phenomena,  at  once  dis- 
arms science  and  philosophy  of  all  their  difficulties,  and  enables 
us  to  think  of  it  on  spiritual,  which  are  its  proper,  grounds. 

It  has  been  shown  on  several  occasions  during  the  progress  of 
this  work  that  various  orders  of  animated  nature  are  mentioned 
in  the  Scriptures  as  types  or  symbols  of  certain  moral  senti- 
ments and  intellectual  principles  of  man.  It  was  adverted  to 
when  speaking  of  the  fourth  and  fifth  days'  creation;  also  when 
treating  of  Adam's  naming  the  creatures;  and  likewise  in  notic- 
ing their  introduction  into  the  ark.  We  therefore  need  not 
adduce  farther  illustrations.  The  principle  involved  in  those 
explanations  is  applicable  to  the  case  before  us.  It  leads  us  at 
once  to  see  that  the  animals  which  are  mentioned  to  have  per- 
ished at  the  deluge  were  significant  of  certain  principles  of  life, 
which  were  extinguished  through  the  inflowing  of  those  false 
persuasions  and  evil  loves  from  which  the  flood  resulted. 

It  is,  however,  of  importance  to  observe  in  what  those  princi- 
ples of  life  consisted.  The  people  had  been,  for  many  genera- 
tions, descending  deeper  and  deeper  into  the  mire  and  filth  of 
their  corruptions,  and  the  posterity  now  treated  of  had  become 
the  sink  of  all  that  was  vile  in  perversity  and  lust:  these  are  the 
various  principles  of  degenerate  life  belonging  to  this  abandoned 
condition,  that  are  specifically  referred  to  by  the  animals  Avhich 
perished  in  the  flood.  All  man's  noble  affections  and  elevated 
sentiments  had  previously  passed  away  in  the  degeneracy  that 
had  set  in,  and  those  which  now  remained  were  low  and  sen- 
sual merely.  The  unhallowed  nature  of  these  perversities  and 
loves  had  closed  the  interiors  of  that  people  against  the  recep- 
tion of  all  heavenly  influences,  so  tliat,  in  addition  to  their  own 
vicious  inclinations,  they  were  acted  upon  by  urgent  impulses 
from  the  infernal  world,  through  the  inundations  of  which  they 
finally  perished  from  the  earth,    carrying  with   them  all  the 


OF   THE    BEASTS    WHICH    PERISH.  353 

fallen  appetites  and  persuasions  peculiar  to  the  race.  These,  we 
say,  were  represented  by  the  general  description,  ' '  All  flesh 
died  that  creepeth  upon  the  earth,  as  to  fowl,  and  as  to  beast, 
and  as  to  wild  beast,  and  as  to  every  reptile  creeping  upon  the 
earth,  and  every  man."  It  is  to  be  remarked  that  the  animals 
described  to  have  perished  are  called  ' '  creeping  things. ' '  The 
fowls,  the  beasts,  and  wild  beasts,  are  all  included  in  the  gen- 
eral statement  that  * '  all  flesh  died  that  creepeth  upon  the 
earth. ' '  This  is  said  of  them  to  indicate  the  earthly  persuasions 
and  delights  of  men;  and  in  order  to  represent  the  dispersion  of 
their  peculiar  enormities,  these  creeping  things  are  said  to  have 
died.  That  flesh  is  mentioned  in  the  Scriptures  to  denote  man 
in  general  is  well  known;  and  therefore  it  is  easy  to  see,  when 
he  is  spoken  of  as  flesh  that  creepeth  upon  the  earth,  that  his  cor- 
poreal and  earthly  condition  is  described.  The  foivls  of  this 
state  represented  his  perverted  reasonings  and  false  persuasions ; 
the  beasts  were  significant  of  lusts  of  various  sorts;  wild  beasts 
denoted  the  inordinate  delights  of  the  sensual  man;  and  reptiles 
meant  all  those  pursuits  which  are  grovelling,  earthly,  and  dis- 
gusting. The  interior  principles  of  those  people  had  become 
altogether  vile;  the  life  of  their  understandings  was  a  mere  ani- 
mus of  false  persuasions;  the  life  of  their  wills  had  degenerated 
into  abandoned  lusts,  and  they  perished  in  following  the  wicked- 
ness to  Avhich  they  were  impelled. 

To  show  that  the  peculiar  kinds  of  false  and  evil  principles 
which  had  been  developed  in  society  were  to  be  extirpated,  it  is 
said  that  "all  flesh  died  that  moved  upon  the  earth,  both  of 
fowl,  and  of  cattle,  and  of  beasts,  and  of  every  creeping  thing 
that  creepeth  upon  the  earth,"  and  which,  in  one  complex,  are 
called  ' '  every  man  ' '  ;*  man  here  denoting  the  profane  character 
which  he  had  become. 

Such  we  conceive  to  have  been  the  horrible  nature  of  the 
flood — that  is,  of  the  inundation  of  false  principles  and  evil  loves 
into  the  minds  and  hearts  of  men — that  it  not  only  overwhelmed 
the  spiritual  lives  of  all  those  who  had  not  prepared  to  resist 
their  suggestions  and  impulses,  but  it  also  promoted  a  disas- 
trous termination  of  their  natural  existence. 

It  may  not  be  easy  for  some  to  see  how  those  evil  influences, 

*  Gen.  vii.  21, 
25 


354  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

operating  upon  the  mind,  were  capable  of  producing  such  a 
physical  result,  because  we  live  under  an  economy  in  which  the 
Redeemer  has  mercifully  provided  against  the  return  of  events 
which  might  have  afforded  illustrative  evidence  and  examples. 
Yet  they  are  not  entirely  without  a  witness,  as  we  shall  see 
presently. 

The  first  means  adopted  to  prevent  the  recurrence  of  such  a 
calamity  was  the  reconstruction  of  the  human  mind,  by  the 
separation  of  the  will  from  the  understanding,  and  thereby  mak- 
ing provision  for  the  security  of  remains.  This  means,  although 
up  to  a  certain  period  it  realized  the  promise  that  "all  flesh 
should  not  be  cut  off  any  more  by  the  waters  of  a  flood,"  3^et  it 
was  not  a  full  and  complete  preventive  against  its  possibility. 
For  we  find  that  evil  influences  from  the  infernal  world  had 
again  obtained  an  ascendency  over  at  least  a  certain  portion  of  the 
human  race,  at  the  time  of  the  advent  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
since  it  is  written,  ' '  For  this  purpose  Avas  the  Son  of  God  mani- 
fested, that  he  might  destroy  the  works  of  the  devil  ";  *  and  he 
said,  ' '  I  am  come  that  they  might  have  life,  and  that  they 
might  have  it  more  abundantly."!  At  this  time  the  Gospels 
inform  us  of  several  instances  in  which  evil  spirits  had  not  only 
taken  possession  of  the  minds,  but  had  obsessed  the  very  bodies 
of  mankind,  so  much  so  as  to  endanger  their  physical  existence. 
We  will  only  advert  to  two  examples.  When  Jesus  went  ' '  into 
the  country  of  the  Gergesenes,  there  met  him  two  possessed 
with  devils,  coming  out  of  the  tombs,  exceeding  fierce,  so  that 
no  man  might  pass  by  that  way  ' ' ;  these  were  cast  out,  and  they 
entered  into  a  herd  of  swine,  which  ran  "  into  the  sea,  and  per- 
ished in  the  waters."  X  Again,  one  of  the  multitude  brought 
unto  Jesus  his  son,  who  had  a  dumb  spirit,  "  and  when  he  saw 
him,  straightway  the  spirit  tare  him,  and  he  fell  on  the  ground, 
and  wallowed  foaming; — and  ofttimes  it  cast  him  into  the  fire, 
and  into  the  water,  to  destroy  him."§  These  facts,  taken  in 
connection  with  the  circumstance  that  the  Lord  was  manifested 
to  destroy  such  works — they  being  phenomena  which  were 
peculiar  to  the  time,  and  of  considerable  prevalence — (for  the 
Apostles  state,  as  one  of  the  consequences  of  their  ministry,  that 

*1  John  iii.  8.  t  Joli"  x-  10. 

X  Matt.  viii.  28-32.  i  Mark  ix.  17-22. 


EVIL    SPIRITS    POSSESSING    MANKIND.  355 

the  devils  were  subject  to  them  through  the  Lord's  name) — 
afford  us  historical  evidence  of  an  unquestionable  kind  that  in- 
fernal influences  were  capable  of  compassing  even  the  natural 
death  of  society,  when  it  had  voluntarily  sunk  into  perversities 
and  lusts.  That  which  can  be  done  to  an  individual  can  be 
done  to  a  multitude.  But  by  the  redemption  that  the  Lord 
effected,  and  by  the  glorification  of  his  humanity,  which  was 
accomplished  in  the  process  of  that  work,  a  safe  provision  and 
complete  barrier  have  been  raised  against  the  return  of  such 
a  state  of  things,  and  therefore  it  is  that  they  are  happily  not 
within  the  experiences  of  Christian  society.  It  was,  however, 
in  some  measure  realized  by  society  at  the  period  of  the  Lord's 
coming,  and  we  refer  to  this  circumstance  merely  to  illustrate 
the  idea  of  direful  persuasions  opening  in  man  channels  for  the 
reception  of  that  malignant  and  suffocating  influx,  by  which  we 
conceive  the  antediluvians  to  have  perished.  Surely  every  one 
may  see  that  when  men  are  so  separated  from  the  Divine  prin- 
ciple that  they  possess  no  spiritual  life  therefrom,  but  are 
merely  influenced  by  sensual  impulses,  similar  to  those  of 
beasts,  no  society  can  be  formed  and  governed  by  the  laws  of 
use  and  order;  because  when  men  are  of  such  a  nuture,  and  so 
without  heavenly  guidance,  they  become,  as  it  were,  insane, 
and  rush  openly  into  the  commission  of  every  evil,  one  against 
another,  acquiring  stimulus  thereto  from  an  infernal  origin,  in 
which  case  the  human  race  must  perish. 

This,  indeed,  is  going  directly  to  the  root  of  the  catastrophe; 
but,  upon  more  general  principles,  it  must  be  conceded  that 
"evil  will  sla}'  the  wicked,"  *  at  least  as  to  all  spiritual  hopes 
and  happiness;  hence  it  is  easy  to  conceive  that  this,  when 
manifested  in  the  life  with  unrestrained  malignity,  must  bring 
about  the  physical  destruction  of  the  society  among  whom  it 
prevails.  The  truth  of  this  idea  is  known  and  acknowledged. 
Most  persons  are  acquainted  with  cases  in  which  individuals 
have  brought  on  their  own  death  by  the  pursuit  of  criminal 
indulgences.  How  many  of  our  race  perish  annually  from 
drunkenness  and  other  enormities  !  How  much  more  extensive 
would  this  calamity  become,  if  it  were  not  for  counteracting  in- 
fluences !    That  which  can  sweep  away  an  individual  may  carry 

*  Psa.  xxxiv.  21. 


356  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

off  a  community.  Has  it  not  done  so  ?  What  says  authentic 
history  ui^on  the  subject?  It  shows  us  many  cities,  yea,  whole 
nations,  that  have  been  swept  from  the  map  of  existence,  and 
of  which  nothing  remains  but  the  scanty  vestiges  of  ruin,  to 
mark  their  profligac}^,  or  chronicle  their  end  !  How  many  lands 
have  been  depopulated  through  the  depravity  and  ignorance  of 
their  inhabitants !  How  has  Nineveh  become  a  waste,  and 
Babylon  a  desolation  !  The  prophets  answer,  and  say  it  was 
through  the  wickedness  of  their  inhabitants.*  The  blinding  of 
their  eyes,  and  the  hardening  of  their  hearts,  having  led  them 
to  a  forgetfulness  of  God,  and  a  disregard  for  their  neighbour, 
also  opened  out  innumerable  channels  for  the  admission  of 
principles  and  the  performance  of  acts  by  which  destruction 
came.  While,  then,  we  hold  that  the  flood  consisted  in-  the 
direful  influences  of  evil  and  false  principles,  by  which  the  light 
of  religion  was  extinguished,  and  the  emotions  of  virtue  de- 
stroyed; we  also  conceive  that  these  principles  were  productive 
of  characteristics  and  proceedings  which  were  dangerous  to  per- 
sonal safety;  and  consequently,  that  they  were,  as  external 
causes,  the  means  of  sweeping  from  natural  existence  a  peculi- 
arly profligate  and  abandoned  race.  The  manner  in  which 
these  causes  operated  to  dissolve  society  and  terminate  its  exist- 
ence was,  doubtless,  very  various.  Evil  is  diversified  in  all  its 
kinds;  and  it  displays  its  malignity  in  a  multitude  of  ways,  all 
of  which  are  more  or  less  fatal  in  their  results  to  the  people  who 
walk  therein.  The  narrative,  however,  does  not  deal  with  ex- 
ternal causes;  it  treats  of  those  that  are  primary  in  such  results; 
consequently,  of  man  having  ceased  to  live  according  to  the 
order  of  heaven,  and,  thereby,  of  his  having  become  the  subject 
of  temptations,  in  which  his  moral  sentiments  and  religious 
life  Avere  finally  overwhelmed.  Hereby  "all  in  whose  nostrils 
was  the  breath  of  life,  of  all  that  was  in  the  dry  land,  died."  f 
Those  in  whose  nostrils  was  the  breath  of  life  were  the  people 
who  had  constituted  the  most  ancient  Church  during  the  time 
of  its  integrity.  Of  them  it  is  written,  the  Lord  God  breathed 
into  their  nostrils  the  breath  of  life  " ;  |  which  means,  the  im- 

*  See  Jer.,  chaps,  xlix.  and  1.;  and  Nahxim  throughont. 

t  Gen.  vii.  22.  t  Gen.  ii.  7. 


MORAL  EVIL  PRODUCTIVE  OF  NATURAL  DEATH.      357 

plantation  of  love,  and  faith  originating  therein:  these  princi- 
nles    as  we   have  seen,  were  successively  abandoned  and  de- 
stroyed, and  now  the  seeds  thereof,  which  had  been  hereditarily 
transmitted  to  the  last  posterity  of  the  antediluvian  community, 
were   by   them    entirely  extinguished.     Wherefore   i    is   said 
everything  died  in  whose  nostrils  was  the  breath  of  hves:  and 
hence  it  follows,  that  all  who  were  in  the  dry  land  perished,  be- 
cause thereby  are  represented  those  who  had  become   as  it  were, 
parched  with  lusts,  and  in  whom  there  were  none  of  the  remains 
of   celestial   and   spiritual   life.     Everything  of    this   character 
passed  away,  and  thereby  the  cessation  of  the  people  with  whom 
It  took   place.       "Noah    only   remained   ahve,    and  they    that 
y^erewiih  him  in  the  ark":*  the  reason  is,  as  previously  in  i- 
mated,  because  the  Noachic  people  found  grace  in  the  eyes  of   he 
Lord,  and  were  righteous  in  his  sight.     The  grace  denoted  that 
they  retained  some  truth;  their  righteousness  shows  that  they 
possessed  some  good:  and  these  were  the  principles  which  en- 
abled them  to  erect  the  ark,  collect  the  fowls  and  beasts,  rise 
above  the  waters  of  temptation,  and  receive  the  covenant  which 
God  established,  for  the  purpose  of  commencing  an  entirely  new 
dispensation  of  Divine  things,  as  the  Adamic  or  most  ancient 
Church  had,  after  innumerable  corruptions,  divisions,  and  per- 
versities, passed  away  in  the  manner  we  have  attempted  to  de- 

'' Here  we  terminate  our  exposition  of   the  most  remarkable 
events  recorded  in  the  first  seven  chapters  of  Genesis.     \\  e  have 
endeavoured  to  show  that  they  were  not  written  to  express  that 
literal  sense  which  they  are  commonly  understood  to  do.      W  e 
have  regarded  the  history  as  purely  figurative,  not  only  because 
such  a  mode  of  expressing  spiritual  and  intellec  ual    sub3ects 
was  common  to  mankind  in  the  early  ages  of  enlightened  so- 
ciety, but  also  because  such  a  method  of  indicating  internal  and 
spiritual  things  of  the  Church  is  in  agreement  with  the  Divme 
style  of  communication  evinced  throughout  the  whole  ^^  od, 
and  likewise  because  this  kind  of    composition   is   eminently 
adapted  to  portraying  the  interior  principles  of  men    by  means 
of  appropriate  representatives  and  correspondences  chosen  fiom 


*  Gen.  vii.  23. 


358  THE    WORD    AND    ITS    INSPIRATION. 

the  world  of  nature — the  figures  employed  not  being  the  analo- 
gies of  human  rhetoric,  but  types  of  the  Divine  selection. 

This  being  the  ground  we  have  taken  for  the  explanations,  we 
have  not  hesitated  to  produce  many  of  the  difficulties  which 
obviously  surround  the  common  views  of  the  subjects  discussed, 
Ijecause  we  were  desirous  of  showing  to  those  who  hold  such 
views,  the  inconsistencies  they  have  to  encounter,  and  the  con- 
tradictions they  must  believe,  if  they  will  retain  them. 

These  difficulties,  however,  are  not  to  be  understood  as  being 
urged  against  the  narratives  themselves;  but  only  against  that 
which  we  conceive  to  be  their  erroneous  interpretation.  We 
repeat  this,  that  the  reader,  in  drawing  his  conclusions,  may 
discriminate  between  our  belief  in  the  Divine  character  of  the 
documents  themselves,  and  our  disbelief  of  those  opinions  which 
they  have  been  supposed  to  express.  The  path  we  have  pur- 
sued in  this  investigation  effectually  avoids  all  tlieir  difficulties, 
and  maintains  throughout  a  rational  consistency  and  religious 
character. 

We  have  seen  that  those  early  portions  of  the  Word  treat  of 
the  rise  and  perfection  of  the  most  ancient  Church,  which  was 
pre-eminently  Man,  in  the  enjoyment  of  the  intelligence  of  love. 
We  next  contemplated  the  existence  of  the  sensual  principle, 
pointing  out  the  nature  of  its  seduction,  and  the  decline  of  the 
people.  Then,  in  the  people  represented  by  Cain  and  Abel,  we 
saw  the  separation  of  faith  from  charity,  with  their  respective 
characteristics;  also  the  death  of  charity,  by  which  faith  became 
a  fugitive  and  a  vagabond  principle  in  the  Church;  and  that 
this  likewise  j^erished  in  the  time  of  the  first  Lainech.  After- 
wards it  was  shown  that  those  histories  reveal  the  rise  of  heresies 
in  a  variety  of  forms,  and  disclose  the  enormities  of  the  imagi- 
nation and  heart  of  which  they  were  productive  among  man- 
kind; and,  finally,  that  they  announce  an  awful  inundation  .of 
false  persuasions  and  evil  influences,  by  which  all  branches  of 
society  were  overwhelmed,  with  the  exception  of  the  Noachic 
people,  who  were  saved  from  the  catastrophe,  because  they 
resisted  and  conquered  those  temptations  in  which  others  fell 
and  perished. 

The  narrative,  therefore,  is  a  consecutive  history  of  the  states 
experienced  by  the  most  distinguished  Church  which  has  ever 


CONCLUSION.  359 

existed  upon  this  earth,  during  the  process  of  its  rise,  fall,  and 
extinction — the  extinction  of  a  celestial  Church,  whose  primeval 
name  was  Adam,  and  which  was  succeeded  by  another,  of  a 
spiritual  quality,  under  the  appellation  of  Noah. 

Being  deeply  impressed  with  the  truth  of  these  views,  we 
venture  humbly  to  urge  them  upon  the  serious  attention  of  the 
reader,  and  earnestly  solicit  him  to  think  carefully  and  religi- 
ously upon  them,  for  the  purpose  of  adopting  some  rational  and 
consistent  conclusion;  for,  most  certainly,  a  period  is  advancing 
in  which  will  take  place  a  complete  revolution  and  thorough 
change  of  popular  opinion  concerning  the  meaning  of  those 
early  portions  of  the  Lord's  most  holy  Word.  May  that 
change  be  effected  under  tlie  Divine  influence,  and  mankind 
have  their  eyes  opened  to  the  enjoyment  of  a  purer  light,  and 
thus  may  they  intellectually  appreciate  the  wonderful  things 
contained  in  His  law. 


THE    END. 


APPENDIX. 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  CORRESPONDENCES. 

It  is  not  known  at  the  present  day  what  correspondence  is. 
That  it  is  not  known  is  from  several  causes.  The  primary  cause 
is  that  man  has  removed  himself  from  heaven  by  the  love  of 
self  and  of  the  world,  for  he  who  looks  to  himself  and  the  world 
above  all  things,  regards  only  things  which  are  of  the  world, 
because  these  gratify  the  external  senses  and  delight  the 
natural  inclinations,  and  pays  no  regard  to  spiritual  things, 
which  gratify  the  internal  senses  and  delight  the  rational 
mind;  wherefore  they  cast  these  things  from  them,  saying 
that  they  are  too  high  to  be  objects  of  thought.  The  an- 
cients did  otherwise;  to  them  the  science  of  correspondences 
was  the  chief  of  all  sciences;  by  that,  also,  they  acquired  in- 
telligence and  wisdom ;  and  those  Avho  were  of  the  church  had  by 
it  communication  with  heaven,  for  the  science  of  correspond- 
ences is  an  angelic  science.  The  most  ancient  people,  who 
were  celestial  men,  thought  from  correspondence  itself,  like  the 
angels;  therefore,  also,  they  spoke  with  angels,  and  the  Lord 
often  appeared  to  them  and  instructed  them.  But  at  this  day 
that  science  is  so  entirely  lost  that  it  is  not  known  what  corre- 
spondence is. 

Now,  because  without  a  perception  of  what  correspondence  is 
nothing  can  be  known  in  liglit  concerning  the  spiritual  world, 
nor  concerning  its  inllux  into  the  natural,  nor  even  what 
the  spiritual  princi]ile  is  in  respect  to  the  natural;  nor  can 
anything  be  known  in  light  concerning  the  spirit  of  man,  which 
is  called  the  soul,  and  concerning  its  operation  in  the  body, 
nor  concerning  the  state  of  man  after  death;  therefore  it  is  to 
be  told  what  is  correspondence  and  what  is  its  qualit3% 

The  whole  natural  world  corresponds  to  the  spiritual  world, 
not  only  the  natural  world  in  general,  but  in  every  particular; 

361 


362  APPENDIX. 

wherefore,  whatever  exists  in  the  natural  world  from  the 
spiritual,  that  is  said  to  be  correspondent.  It  is  to  be  known 
that  the  natural  world  exists  from  the  sj^iritual  world,  altogether 
as  an  effect  from  its  efficient  cause.  What  is  called  the  natural 
world  is  all  that  extense  which  is  under  the  sun,  and  receives 
from  it  heat  and  light,  and  the  tilings  that  thence  subsist  belong 
to  that  world;  but  the  spiritual  world  is  heaven,  and  to  that 
world  belong  all  the  things  which  are  in  the  heavens. 

Because  man  is  a  heaven  and  also  a  world  in  the  least  form 
after  the  image  of  the  greatest,  therefore  there  is  with  him  a 
spiritual  world  and  a  natural  world.  The  interiors,  which  are 
of  his  mind  and  which  have  reference  to  the  understanding  and 
will,  constitute  his  spiritual  world;  and  the  exteriors,  which  are 
of  his  body  and  which  bear  reference  to  his  senses  and  actions, 
constitute  his  natural  world.  Whatever,  therefore,  exists  in 
his  natural  world, — that  is,  in  his  body, — and  its  senses  and 
actions,  from  his  spiritual  world, — that  is,  from  his  mind, 
understanding,  and  will, — is  called  correspondent. 

What  the  quality  of  correspondence  is  may  be  seen  in  man 
from  his  face.  In  the  face  which  has  not  been  taught  to  dis- 
semble, all  the  affections  of  the  mind  present  themselves  visibly 
in  a  natural  form  as  in  their  type;  hence  the  face  is  called  the 
index  of  the  mind.  In  like  manner,  the  things  which  are  of  the 
understanding  are  sensibly  manifested  in  the  speech,  and  the 
things  which  are  of  the  will  in  the  gestures  of  the  body.  Those 
things,  therefore,  which  are  done  in  the  body,  whether  in  the 
face  or  in  the  speech  or  in  the  gestures,  are  called  correspond- 
ences. 

There  is  also  a  correspondence  of  man  with  heaven,  and  from 
that  correspondence  he  subsists;  for  man  does  not  subsist  from 
any  other  source  than  from  heaven.  Heaven  is  distinguished  into 
kingdoms,  one  of  which  is  called  the  celestial  kingdom  and  the 
other  the  spiritual  kingdom.  The  celestial  kingdom  in  general 
corresponds  to  the  heart  and  to  all  things  in  the  body  that 
refer  to  the  heart,  and  the  spiritual  kingdom  to  the  lungs  and 
to  all  things  in  the  body  that  refer  to  them.  The  heart  and 
the  lungs  also  constitute  two  kingdoms  in  man:  the  heart  reigns 
there  by  the  arteries  and  veins,  and  the  lungs  by  the  nerves 
and   movinsz  fibres,    lioth  of  them    in   overv  force  and   action. 


APPENDIX.  363 

In  every  man,  in  his  spiritual  world,  which  is  called  his  spir- 
itual man,  there  are  also  two  kingdoms:  one  of  the  will  and 
the  other  of  the  understanding.  The  will  reigns  by  the  affec- 
tions of  good,  and  the  understanding  by  the  affections  of  truth. 
These  kingdoms  also  correspond  to  the  kingdoms  of  the  heart 
and  the  lungs  in  the  body.  The  case  is  similar  in  the  heavens: 
the  celestial  kingdom  is  the  will-principle  of  heaven,  in  which 
kingdom  the  good  of  love  bears  rule,  and  the  spiritual  kingdom 
is  the  intellectual  principle  of  heaven,  and  in  that  kingdom 
truth  bears  rule;  these  are  what  correspond  to  the  functions  of 
the  heart  and  lungs  in  man.  It  is  from  that  correspondence  that 
heart  in  the  Word  signifies  the  loill,  and  also  the  good  of  love; 
and  that  the  breath  of  the  lungs  signifies  the  understanding  and 
the  truth  of  faith:  hence  also  it  is  that  the  affections  are  ascribed 
to  the  heart,  although  in  reality  they  are  not  there  seated  nor 
thence  derived. 

It  is  now  to  be  shown  that  all  things  of  the  earth  and  of  the 
world  are  correspondences.  All  things  of  the  earth  are  distin- 
guished into  three  kinds,  which  are  called  kingdoms — namely, 
the  animal  kingdom,  the  vegetable  kingdom,  and  the  mineral 
kingdom.  Those  things  which  are  in  the  animal  kingdom  are 
correspondences  in  the  first  degree,  because  they  live;  those 
which  are  in  the  vegetable  kingdom  are  correspondences  in  the 
second  degree,  because  they  only  grow;  those  which  are  in  the 
mineral  kingdom  are  correspondences  in  the  third  degree, 
because  they  neither  live  nor  grow.  The  correspondences  in 
the  animal  kingdom  are  living  creatures  of  various  kinds,  both 
those  which  walk  and  creep  upon  the  earth  and  those  which  fly 
in  the  air.  The  correspondences  in  the  vegetable  kingdom  are 
all  things  which  grow  and  bloom  in  gardens,  forests,  fields,  and 
plains.  The  correspondences  in  the  mineral  kingdom  are  the 
more  noble  and  the  baser  metals,  precious  stones  and  those  not 
precious,  the  earths  of  various  kinds,  and  also  waters.  Besides 
these  things  those  are  also  correspondences  which  by  human 
industry  are  prepared  from  them  for  use,  as  food  of  every  kind, 
garments,  houses,  edifices,  and  the  like. 

The  things  which  are  above  the  earth,  as  the  sun,  the  moon, 
the  stars,  and  also  those  which  are  in  the  atmosphere,  as  clouds, 
mists,    rain,    lightnings,    thunders,    are   also   correspondences. 


364  APPENDIX. 

The  things  which  proceed  from  the  sun  and  its  presence  and 
absence,  as  light  and  shade,  heat  and  cold,  are  also  correspond- 
ences; and  likewise  those  which,  hence,  exist  i'n  succession,  as 
the  seasons  of  the  year,  which  are  called  spring,  summer, 
autumn,  winter,  and  the  times  of  the  day,  as  morning,  noon, 
evening,  night. 

In  a  word,  all  things  that  exist  in  nature,  from  the  least  to 
the  greatest,  are  correspondences.  That  they  are  correspond- 
ences is,  because  the  natural  world  with  all  things  in  it  exists 
and  subsists  from  the  spiritual  world,  and  both  from  the  Divine 
Being.  All  that  is  correspondent  which  from  nature  exists  and 
subsists  from  Divine  order.  The  Divine  good,  which  proceeds 
from  the  Lord,  makes  Divine  order;  it  begins  from  Him,  pro- 
ceeds from  Him,  through  the  heavens  successively  into  the 
world,  and  is  there  terminated  in  ultimates.  The  things  which 
are  according  to  order  there  are  correspondences,  and  all  things 
are  according  to  order  there  which  are  good  and  perfect  for 
use,  for  every  good  is  good  according  to  use. 

But  what  the  correspondence  of  spiritual  things  with  natural 
is,  may  be  illustrated  by  examples.  The  animals  of  the  earth 
correspond  to  affections;  the  gentle  and  useful  to  good  affections, 
the  fierce  and  useless  to  evil  affections.  Specifically  cows  and 
oxen  correspond  to  affections  of  the  natural  mind;  sheep  and 
lambs  to  the  affections  of  the  spiritual  mind;  but  winged 
animals,  according  to  their  species,  correspond  to  the  intellectual 
things  of  each  mind.  Hence  it  is  that  various  animals,  as 
cows,  oxen,  rams,  she-goats,  he-goats,  he-lambs  and  she-lambs, 
and  also  pigeons  and  turtle-doves,  in  the  Israelitish  Church, 
which  was  a  representative  church,  were  applied  to  holy  uses, 
and  from  them  were  made  sacrifices  and  burnt-offerings;  for 
tliey  correspond,  in  that  use,  to  spiritual  things,  which  were 
understood  in  heaven  according  to  correspondences.  The  reason 
why  animals  according  to  their  kinds  and  species  are  affections 
is  because  they  live,  and  everything  has  life  from  no  other 
source  than  from  affection  and  according  to  it;  hence  every 
animal  has  innate  knowledge  according  to  the  affection  of 
its  life.  Man,  also,  is  similar  to  them  as  to  his  natural  man, 
and  therefore  he  is  compared  to  them  in  common  discourse, 
as,  if  gentle,  he  is  called  a  sheep  or  a  lamb;  if  fierce,  he  is 


APPENDIX.  365 

called  a  bear  or  a  wolf;  if  cunning,  a  fox  or  a  serpent,  and  so 
forth. 

There  is  a  similar  correspondence  with  the  things  of  the  veg- 
etable kingdom.  A  garden  in  general  corresponds  to  heaven, 
in  relation  to  its  intelligence  and  wisdom;  Avherefore,  heaven  is 
called  the  garden  of  God  and  paradise.  Trees,  according  to 
their  species,  correspond  to  the  perceptions  and  knowledges  of 
good  and  truth,  from  which  are  derived  intelligence  and  wisdom. 
Wherefore,  the  ancients,  who  were  in  the  science  of  corresjjond- 
ences,  had  their  holy  worship  in  groves;  and  hence,  also,  it  is 
that,  in  the  Word,  trees  are  so  often  named,  and  heaven  and  the 
church  and  man  are  compared  to  them,  as  to  the  vine,  the  olive, 
the  cedar,  and  others,  and  the  good  works  which  they  do  are 
compared  to  fruits.  The  food,  also,  which  is  from  them, 
especially  that  which  is  from  seed  raised  in  fields,  corres- 
ponds to  the  affections  of  good  and  truth,  because  these  nour- 
ish spiritual  life  as  earthly  food  nourishes  natural  life.  And 
hence  bread,  in  general,  corresponds  to  the  affections  of  all 
good,  because  that,  more  than  the  rest,  sustains  life,  and  also 
because  by  bread  is  meant  all  food.  On  account  of  this  corre- 
spondence, also,  the  Lord  calls  Himself  the  Bread  of  Life;  and, 
for  the  same  reason,  bread  was  in  holy  use  in  the  Israelitish 
Church,  for  it  was  set  upon  the  table  in  the  tabernacle  and  called 
"the  bread  of  faces,"  and,  also,  all  Divine  worship  which  was 
celebrated  by  sacrifices  and  burnt-offerings  was  called  bread. 

On  account  of  that  correspondence,  also,  the  holiest  thing  of 
worship  in  the  Christian  Church  is  the  Holy  Supper,  in  which 
there  is  given  bread  and  wine. 

In  what  manner  the  conjunction  of  heaven  with  the  world  is 
effected  by  correspondence  shall  be  briefly  told.  The  kingdom 
of  the  Lord  is  a  kingdom  of  uses  ;  on  this  account  the  universe 
was  so  created  and  formed  by  the  Divine  Being  that  uses  may 
everywhere  be  clothed  with  such  things  as  may  he  instrumental 
in  presenting  them,  in  act  or  in  effect,  first  in  heaven,  and 
next  in  the  world ;  thus,  by  degrees  and  successively,  even  to  the 
ultimates  of  nature.  Hence  it  is  evident  that  the  correspond- 
ence of  things  natural  with  things  spiritual,  or  of  the  world  with 
heaven,  is  effected  by  uses,  and  that  uses  conjoin  them;  and 
that  the  forms  with  which   uses  are  clothed  are  so  far  corre- 


366  APPENDIX. 

spondences,  and  so  far  conjunctions,  as  they  are  forms  of  uses. 
In  the  world  of  nature,  in  its  triple  kingdom,  all  things  which 
there  exist  according  to  order  are  forms  of  uses,  or  effects  formed 
from  use  for  use;  wherefore,  the  things  that  are  there,  are  corres- 
pondences. With  respect  to  man, — as  far  as  he  lives  according  to 
Divine  order,  thus  as  far  as  in  love  to  the  Lord  and  in  charity 
towards  the  neighbour — so  far  his  acts  are  uses  in  form,  and  are 
correspondences  by  which  he  is  conjoined  to  heaven;  to  love  the 
Lord  and  the  neighbour  is  to  perform  uses.  Further,  it  is  to  be 
known  that  it  is  man  by  means  of  whom  the  natural  world  is 
conjoined  with  the  spiritual,  or  that  he  is  the  medium  of  conjunc- 
tion; for  in  him,  as  before  shown,  there  is  a  natural  world  and  there 
is  a  si3iritual  world :  wherefore,  as  far  as  man  is  spiritual,  so  far 
he  is  a  medium  of  conjunction,  but,  so  far  as  he  is  mereh' 
natural  and  not  spiritual,  so  far  he  is  not  a  medium  of  conjunc- 
tion. Still,  there  continues,  without  man  as  a  medium,  a  Divine 
influx  into  the  world,  and  also  into  those  things  which  are  from 
the  world  with  man,  but  not  into  his  rational  principle. 

As  all  things  which  are  according  to  Divine  order  corres})ond 
to  heaven,  so  all  things  which  are  contrary  to  Divine  order  cor- 
respond to  hell.  The  things  which  correspond  to  heaven  have 
all  reference  to  good  and  truth;  those  Avhich  correspond  to  hell, 
to  evil  and  falsity. 

It  was  said  above  that  the  sjiiritual  world,  which  is  heaven, 
is  conjoined  to  the  natural  world  by  correspondences,  hence  by 
means  of  correspondences  there  is  given  to  man  communication 
with  heaven.  For  the  angels  of  heaven  do  not  think  from 
natural  things,  as  man  does;  wherefore,  when  man  is  in  the 
knowledge  of  correspondences,  he  can  be  together  with  the  angels 
as  to  the  thoughts  of  his  mind,  and  thus  be  conjoined  to  them 
as  to  his  spiritual  or  internal  man.  In  order  that  there  might 
be  conjunction  of  heaven  with  man,  therefore,  the  Divine  Word 
was  written  by  pure  correspondences;  for  all  and  each  of  the 
things  which  are  there  correspond.  Wherefore,  if  man  were 
acquainted  with  correspondences,  he  would  understand  the 
Word  as  to  its  spiritual  sense,  and  thence  it  would  be  given  him 
to  know  arcana,  nothing  of  which  he  sees  in  the  sense  of  the 
letter.  For  in  the  Word  there  is  a  literal  sense  and  there  is  a 
spiritual  sense.     The  literal  sense  consists  of  such  things  as  are 


APPENDIX.  367 

in  the  world,  but  the  spiritual  sense  of  such  things  as  are  in  the 
heavens;  and,  because  the  conjunction  of  heaven  with  the  world 
is  by  correspondences,  therefore  such  a  Word  has  been  given, 
that  everything  in  it,  even  to  an  iota,  corresponds. 

I  have  been  instructed  that  the  most  ancient  people  on  our 
earth,  who  were  celestial  men,  thought  from  correspondences 
themselves,  anct  the  natural  things  of  the  world  that  were  before 
their  eyes  served  them  as  means  of  so  thinking;  and  because 
they  were  such,  they  were  consociated  with  the  angels  of  heaven 
and  spake  with  them,  and  thus  by  them  heaven  was  conjoined 
with  the  world.  On  this  account  that  time  was  called  the 
Golden  Age,  concerning  which  it  is  also  said  by  the  ancient 
writers  that  the  inhabitants  of  heaven  dwelt  with  men,  and  had 
intercourse  with  them  as  friends  Avith  friends.  But  after  their 
time  there  succeeded  those  who  thought  not  from  correspond- 
ences themselves,  but  from  the  science  of  correspondences;  there 
was  conjunction  of  heaven  also  then,  but  not  so  intimate.  Tliis 
time  was  what  is  called  the  Silver  Age.  Afterwards  those  suc- 
ceeded who,  indeed,  knew  correspondences,  but  did  not  think 
from  the  knowledge  of  them  because  they  were  only  in  natural 
good,  and  not,  like  the  former,  in  spiritual  good.  The  time  of 
these  was  called  the  Copper  or  Brazen  Age.  After  their  times 
man  l)eeame  successively  external,  and  at  length  mereh''  corpo- 
real, and  then  the  science  of  correspondences  was  altogether 
lost,  and  with  it  the  knowledge  of  heaven  and  of  most  things 
relating  to  heaven.  That  they  named  those  ages  from  gold, 
silver,  and  copper  was  also  from  correspondence,  since  gold  from 
correspondence  signifies  celestial  goodness,  in  which  the  most 
ancient  people  were  ;  silver,  spiritual  good,  in  which  were  the 
ancients  that  succeeded  them  ;  and  copper,  natural  good,  in 
Avhich  their  next  descendants  were;  but  iron,  from  which  the 
last  age  was  named,  signifies  hard  truth  without  good. 

ORIGIN    OF    IDOLATRY. 

The  idolatries  of  the  Gentile  nations,  in  ancient  times,  had 
their  origin  in  the  science  of  correspondences.  For  all  things 
which  appear  upon  the  earth  correspond,  not  only  trees,  but 
also  beasts  and  birds  of  every  kind,  and  also  fishes  and  other 
things.    With  the  ancients  there  was  a  knowledge  of  this  science, 


368  APPENDIX. 

and  it  was  the  chief  science  among  the  wise.  It  was  cultivated 
especially  by  the  Egyptians,  and  hence  their  hieroglyphics.  From 
that  science  they  knew  what  every  animal  represented  and  signi- 
fied, also  what  was  signified  by  trees  of  every  kind,  and  what 
by  mountains,  hills,  rivers,  fountains, and  what  by  the  sun, moon, 
and  stars.  By  means  of  that  science  they  had  also  the  knowledge 
of  spiritual  things,  since  these,  which  constitute  angelic  wisdom, 
were  the  origin  of  those  representatives  in  nature.  Now,  because 
all  their  worship  was  representative,  consisting  of  mere  corre- 
spondences, therefore  they  held  their  worship  upon  mountains 
and  hills,  and  likewise  in  groves  and  gardens,  for  gardens  and 
groves  signify  wisdom  and  intelligence,  and  every  particular  tree 
something  of  these,  as  the  olive,  the  good  of  love;  the  vine,  truth 
from  that  good;  the  cedar,  rational  good  and  truth;  mountains 
and  hills  signified  the  heavens.  For  the  same  reason  they  con- 
secrated fountains,  and  turned  their  faces  to  the  rising  sun  in 
their  adorations;  moreover,  the}-  made  sculptured  horses,  oxen, 
calves,  lambs,  and  also  birds,  fishes,  and  insects,  and  set  them 
in  their  houses  and  elsewhere,  in  their  order,  according  to  their 
correspondence  Avith  the  spiritual  things  of  the  church  which 
they  represented.  Like  things  they  also  placed  in  their  temples, 
that  they  might  recall  to  mind  the  holy  things  of  worship  which 
they  signified.  In  process  of  time,  when  the  science  of  corre- 
spondences became  obliterated,  posterity  began  to  worship  the 
sculptured  things  themselves  as  in  themselves  hoi}",  not  know- 
ing that  the  ancients,  their  fathers,  did  not  see  anything  holy  in 
them,  but  merely  viewed  them  as,  by  the  law  of  correspondence, 
representing  and  signifying  holy  things.  From  this  origin 
sprang  the  idolatries  that  filled  the  whole  world,  not  only  Asia 
and  the  neighboring  islands,  but  Africa  and  Europe. 

THE    GRECIAN    MYTHOLOGY    DEEIVED    FROM    THE    SCIENCE    OF 
CORRESPONDENCES. 

How  much  the  ancients  excelled  the  moderns  in  intelligence 
may  be  manifest  from  this,  that  the  former  knew  to  what 
things  in  heaven  many  things  in  the  world  correspond,  and 
hence  what  they  signified;  and  this  was  known  not  only  to  those 
who  were  of  the  church,  but  also  to  those  who  were  out  of  the 
church,   as  to  the  inhabitants  of  Greece,  the  most  ancient  of 


APPENDIX.  369 

whom  describe  things  by  significatives,  which  at  this  day  are 
called  fabulous  because  they  are  altogether  unknown.  That 
the  ancient  Sophi  possessed  the  knowledge  of  such  things  is 
evident  from  this,  that  they  described  the  origin  of  intelligence 
and  wisdom  by  a  winged  horse,  which  they  called  Pegasus,  and 
his  breaking  open  with  his  hoof  a  fountain,  at  which  were  nine 
virgins,  and  this  upon  a  hill:  for  they  knew  that  by  a  horse  was 
signified  the  intellectual  principle;  by  his  wings  the  spiritual; 
by  hoofs,  truth  in  the  lowest  degree,  which  is  the  basis  of 
intelligence;  by  virgins,  the  sciences;  by  hill,  unanimity  and,  in 
the  spiritual  sense,  charity;  and  so  with  the  rest.  But  such 
things  at  this  day  are  among  those  that  are  lost. 


THE  FOUR  CHURCHES. 
On  this  earth  there  have  been  many  Churches,  one  after  an- 
other; for  where  the  human  race  is  given,  there  a  church  is 
given;  for  heaven,  which  is  the  end  of  the  creation,  is  from  the 
human  race,  and  no  one  can  come  into  heaven  unless  he  is  in 
the  two  universals  of  the  Church,  which  are  to  acknowledge  a 
God  and  to  live  well;  hence  it  follows  that  there  have  been 
Churches  on  this  earth  from  the  most  ancient  time  down  to  the 
present.  These  Churches  are  described  in  the  AVord,  but  not 
historically,  except  the  Israelitish  and  Jewish  Church,  before 
which  there  were  yet  many;  and  the  latter  are  only  descril^ed 
there  by  the  names  of  nations  and  persons,  and  by  a  few  things 
concerning  them.  The  Most  Ancient  Church  is  described  by 
Adam  and  his  wife,  Eve.  The  following  Church,  which  is  to  be 
called  the  Ancient  Church,  is  described  by  Noah  and  his  three 
sons,  and  by  the  posterity  from  them;  this  was  large,  and  ex- 
tended through  many  kingdoms  of  Asia,  which  were  the  Land 
of  Canaan  within  and  beyond  the  Jordan,  Syria,  Assyria  and 
Chaldaea,  Mesopotamia,  Egypt,  Arabia,  Tyre,  and  Sidon.  That 
that  Church  was  in  these  kingdoms  is  evident  from  various 
things  that  are  related  concerning  them  in  the  prophetical  parts 
of  the  Word.  But  that  Church  was  remarkably  changed  by 
Heber,  from  whom  arose  the  Hebrew  Church;  in  this,  worship 
by  sacrifices  was  first  instituted.  From  the  Hebrew  Church 
26 


370  APPENDIX. 

sprang  the  Israelitish  and  Jewish  Church,  which  was  solemnly 
instituted  for  the  sake  of  the  Word,  which  was  written  out 
there.  These  four  Churches  are  understood  by  the  statue  seen 
by  Nebuchadnezzar  in  a  dream,  the  head  of  which  was  of  pure 
gold,  the  breast  and  arms  of  silver,  the  belly  and  thighs  of 
brass,  and  the  legs  and  feet  of  iron  and  clay.  Nor  is  anything 
else  understood  by  the  golden,  silver,  brazen,  and  iron  ages 
mentioned  by  the  ancient  writers.  That  the  Christian  Church 
succeeded  the  Jewish  is  known. 

That  all  those  Churches,  in  process  of  time,  decreased  even  to 
the  end,  which  is  called  their  consummation,  may  also  be  seen 
from  the  Word.  The  consummation  of  the  Most  Ancient 
Church,  which  was  caused  by  eating  of  the  tree  of  knowledge, 
by  Avhich  is  signified  the  pride  of  one's  OAvn  intelligence,  is  de- 
scribed by  the  deluge.  The  consummation  of  the  Ancient 
Church  is  described  by  various  devastations  of  the  nations 
treated  of  in  the  historical  as  well  as  the  prophetical  Word, 
especially  by  the  casting  out  of  the  nations  from  the  land  of 
Canaan  by  the  children  of  Israel.  The  consummation  of  the 
Israelitish  Church  is  understood  by  the  destruction  of  the  tem- 
ple of  Jerusalem,  and  by  the  carrying  away  of  the  Israelitish 
people  into  perpetual  captivity,  and  of  the  Jewish  nation  into 
Babylonia;  and  at  length  by  the  second  destruction  of  the  tem- 
ple, and  at  the  same  time  of  Jerusalem,  and  the  dispersion  of 
.that  nation,  which  consummation  is  foretold  in  many  of  the 
prophets. 

The  fourth  Church  is  the  Christian,  instituted  by  the  Lord, 
tlirough  the  evangelists  and  the  apostles.  Of  this  there  have 
l)een  two  epochs — one  from  the  time  of  the  Lord  to  the  Council 
of  Nice,  and  the  other  from  that  Council  to  the  present  day. 
But  this,  in  its  progress,  has  been  divided  into  three  parts — the 
Greek,  the  Rdman  Catholic,  and  the  Reformed;  but  still  all 
these  are  called  Cliristian.  Besides,  within  each  general  Church 
there  liave  been  several  particular  ones,  which,  although  they 
have  receded,  have  still  retained  the  name  from  the  general  one, 
as  the  heresies  in  the  Cliristian.  But  the  successive  vastation 
of  the  Christian  Church,  even  to  its  end,  is  described  by  the 
Lord  in  the  twenty-fourth  chapter  of  INIatthew,  and  other  places; 
and  the  consummation  itself  is  described  in  the  Apocalypse. — 
From  the  Writings  of  Emavuel  Siredenborg. 


INDEX. 


Abel,  his  mystical  character  admitted, 
176. 

Abel  represents  charity,  176. 

Abel,  what  the  firstlings  of  his  flock  sig- 
nified, 185. 

Abel,  why  the  Lord  had  respect  to  his 
offering,  187. 

Abel,  his  character  and  death,  and  in- 
quiry  respecting  them,  195,  197,  198. 

Adam,  book  of  the  generation  of,  26. 

Adam  a  community,  65,  66,  67. 

Adam  naming  the  creatures,  97,  98. 

Adam,  a  help  meet  for  him,  112. 

Adam,  the  principles  by  which  he  was 
distinguished,  121. 

Adam  did  not  fall  into  every  evil  by  one 
transgression,  131. 

Adam  a  free  people,  127. 

Adam's  transgression  the  beginning  of 
the  fall,  illustrated  in  a  note,  131. 

Affections  compared  to  beasts,  308. 

Age,  spiritual,  245. 

Ages,  great,  not  of  individual  men,  241. 

Alone,  it  not  being  good  for  Adam  to  be, 
108. 

Animals,  difficulty  in  collecting  them  into 
the  ark,  291. 

Anger  no  attribute  of  God,  150,  151. 

Animals  to  be  provided  for  in  the  ark, 
291. 

Animals  significant,  99,  100. 

Animals  which  Adam  did  not  name,  103. 

Appeal,  concluding,  359 

Antitype  and  type,  348 

Ark,  attempts  to  explain  its  arrange- 
ments, 290. 

Ark,  dimensions  not  sufficient  for  all  the 
animals,  290. 

Ark,  requirements  for  the  building  of  it, 
292. 

Ark  and  flood  represent  spiritual  things, 
294. 

Ark,  tebathj  the  word  only  used  in  refer- 
ence to  the  Noachic  vessel,  295. 

Ark,  what  it  represented,  296. 

Ark  pitched  within  and  without,  299. 

Ark,  room,  door,  window,  &c.,  their  sig- 
nificance, 300,  301,  302. 

Ark,  entering  into,  by  Noah  and  his 
house,  306. 

Authority,  its  influence,  288. 

Article  on  faith  only,  169. 


Beasts  representative,  105. 

Beasts,  clean  and  unclean,  and  fowl,  their 

signification,  306,  307,  308,  310. 
Beasts  which  entered  into  the  ark,  and 

those  on  the  holy  mountain,  compared, 

311. 
Beasts  which  perished  at  the  flood,  352. 
Beasts,  various  principles  of  degenerate 

life,  353. 
Beasts,    wild,    inordinate    delights,    105, 

353. 
Beginning,  no  history  of,  12. 
Beginning,  opinions  about  the  meaning 

of  the  word,  9. 
Beginning,  the,  30. 
"  Bending,"  the  language  of  God's  book, 

2. 
Belief  of  Scripture,  and  belief  of  men's 

interpretation,  288. 
Bible,  what    it  was    before  the    time  of 

Moses,  25. 
Books,  ancient,  produced   under  Divine 

superintendence,  26. 
Book  of  the  generation  of  Adam,  26. 
Breath  of  lives,  what  it  is,  59. 
Buckland,  Dr.,  his  opinion  about  the  pur- 
pose of  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis,  6. 
Building  a  city  illustrated,  234. 


Cain  denotes  the  doctrine  of  faith  only, 
172. 

Cain,  his  character,  and  talking  with  his 
brother,  195,  196. 

Cain's  countenance  fell,  188. 

Cain  and  Abel  two  classes  of  religious 
communities,  &c.,  163,  166. 

Cain  and  Abel's  occupations,  difficulties 
respecting  them,  164,  165. 

Cain  and  Abel,  how  made  acquainted 
with  the  results  of  their  respective 
offerings,  187,  188. 

Cain's  offering  of  the  fruit  of  the  ground, 
what  this  was,  184. 

Cain's  complaint  and  apprehension,  205, 

Cain,  who  he  was  to  fear  among  men,  206. 

Cain  not  to  be  slain,  212. 

City  the  representative  of  doctrine,  illus- 
trated, 231. 

Character  springs  from  love,  58. 

Chloroform  objected  to  when  first  em- 
ployed, 156. 


371 


372 


INDEX. 


Church  an  ark  of  safety,  296 

Church,  the  state  of,  and  the  state  of  the 
mind,  run  parallel  to  each  other,  296. 

Church,  how  it  should  understand  the 
early  documents  of  Moses,  3. 

Churches  give  birth  to  the  things  of 
charity  and  faith,  171. 

Colenso,  Dr.,  his  statements  the  opinions 
of  many,  4. 

Colenso,  Dr.,  cited,  .318. 

Commaneiments,  ten,  not  promulgated  to 
Moses  for  the  first  time,  259. 

Conscience,  what  it  is,  198. 

Conception  and  birth  of  religious  princi- 
ples, their  longevity,  166. 

Corruption  of  the  antediluvian  world, 
peculiarity  of  their  nature  from  the 
peculiarity  of  men's  passions  at  that 
time,  254,  255,256. 

Corruptions,  provision  to  be  made  against 
the  recurrence  of  those  which  pre- 
vailed with  the  antediluvians,  260. 

Covenant  with  Noah,  260. 

Creation,  Mosaic  records  of,  give  way 
before  the  discoveries  of  science,  I. 

Creation  of  male  and  female,  50. 

Crime,  how  men  pass  into  it,  146. 

Curious  notions  about  the  phrase,  •'  Male 
and  female  created  he  them,"  109. 

Cush  and  Ethiopia,  remarks  concerning. 
91. 


Day,  opinions  concerning  the  significa- 
tion of,  8. 

Day,  first,  second,  third,  fourth,  fifth, 
and  sixth,  36,  40,  42,  46,  48. 

Daughters,  the  signification  of,  both  in  a 
good  and  a  bad  sense,  266. 

Daughters  born  to  the  sons  of  God,  265. 

Darkness,  ignorance,  called  Night,  37. 

Death  induced  by  criminal  indulgences, 
355. 

Deep,  fountains  of  the  great,  340. 

DelaBeche  cited,  318. 

Deluge,  mistaken  opinions  respecting  it, 
313. 

Death  extant  before  the  creation  of 
man,  8. 

Depravity  of  the  antediluvians,  278. 

Discrepancies  of  the  literal  history,  50,  51. 

Discrepancies  about  taking  the  beasts 
into  the  ark,  309. 

Discrepancy  noticed  and  reconciled,  98. 

Distinction  between  the  first  and  second 
chapters  of  Genesis,  98. 

Difficulties  of  the  literal  sense  admitted, 
4,   5. 

Difiiculties  cut  short,  how,  6. 

Difficulties  urged,  not  against  the  docu- 
ments, but  their  interpretation,  358. 

Diluvium,  317. 

Diluvial  action  different  in  different  ages, 
317. 


Disputes  in  the  Church  whether  faith  or 
charity  is  the  primary  principle,  174. 

Divine  word  for  all  time,  191. 

Document  not  intended  to  express  physi- 
cal truths,  5. 


East,  turning  to  the,  in  prayer,  75. 

East,  children  of  the,  75. 

East,  tradition  of  knowledge  therefrom, 
74. 

Eating  interdicted,  what  this  signified ; 
now  in  force,  140,  142,  144. 

Earth  supposed  to  mean  only  a  limited 
district,  12. 

Earth  without  form  and  void,  the  mean- 
ing of,  32. 

Eden,  the  use  of  knowing  its  geographi- 
cal situation  considered,  68,  69. 

Eden  an  undiscoverable  spot,  69. 

Eden  significant  of  love,  71. 

Eden,  why  said  to  have  been  in  the  east, 
74. 

Eden,  the  river  of,  without  a  name,  87. 

Eden,  to  be  sent  from,  148. 

Eden  lost  to  all  who  transgress  the  Divine 
law,  148. 

Enochs,  two;  the  heresy  of  one,  231. 

Enoch,  the  city  of,  a  representation  of 
doctrine,  232. 

Enoch  denotes  instruction,  234. 

Enoch  from  Seth,  250. 

Enoch,  book  of,  251. 

Enoch,  his  translation,  252. 

Error  of  the  doctrine  of  salvation  by  faith 
only,  170. 

Ethiopia  and  Cush,  remarks  concerning, 
91. 

Eusebius,  a  statement  of  his,  6. 

Eve,  why  so  called,  170. 

Evil  attributed  to  God,  why,  348,  349. 

Evil  influences  from  the  internal  world 
when  God  was  manifest,  354. 

Evil  spirits  possessed  mankind,  354. 

Evil  slays  the  wicked,  356. 

Explanations,  natural,  vague,  7. 


Fall,  the  germ  of  it,  111. 
Fall,  the  Scripture  account  of  it,  119. 
Fall,  Dr.  A.  Clarke's  view  of  it,  119. 
Fall  a  gradual  event,  how  effected,  130. 
Fall  completed  when  Jesus  came,  133. 
Faith  and  charity,  their  characteristics, 

167. 
Faith,  how  it  becomes  heresy,  202. 
Faith  endangered  when  charity  is  dead, 

211. 
Faith  and  charity  separated,  167. 
Faith,  what  it  is,  not  acceptable  without 

charity,  173. 
Faith  essential  to  charity,  184,  197. 
Faith  destroyed  by  Lamech,  227. 


INDEX. 


373 


Father  and  mother,  leaving  them  for  a 
wife,  116. 

Fathers,  the  views  of  some  of  them  con- 
cerning the  early  records  of  Genesis,  20. 

Face  the  idex  of  emotion,  222. 

Fear  the  result  of  wrong-doing,  207. 

Female  characteristics,  51. 

Figurative  language  natural,  62,  63. 

Figurative  language  did  not  take  its  rise 
with  mythology,  2. 

Firmament,  expanse,  why  called  heaven, 
.39. 

Fishes  not  named  by  Adam,  103. 

Fishes,  their  signification,  47. 

Fishes,  why  spared  at  the  time  of  the 
flood,  351,  352. 

Flood,  legends  concerning  it,  22,  23. 

Flood  scarcely  disturbed  the  earth's  sur- 
face, 315. 

Flood,  the  narrative  of,  factitious  history, 
289. 

Flood  could  not  drown  the  fish  and  some 
fowl,  351,  352. 

Flood,  supposed  locality  of  it,  319. 

Flood  a  direful  temptation,  336. 

Flood,  the  sources  of  it  considered,  338, 
339,  340. 

Floods  alluded  to  in  Scripture,  322. 

Flesh,  all,  &o.,  died,  351,  352,  353. 

Fountains  of  the  great  deep  broken  up, 
316. 

Fountains  of  the  great  deep,  the  mean- 
ing of,  338,  339,  340,  341. 

Fowls,  their  signification  in  a  good  and 
bad  sense,  91,  105,  353. 

Freedom,  its  capability,  139. 

Fugitive  and  vagabond,  what  they  are, 
203. 

Garden  of  the  Divine  planting,  61. 

Garden  eastward  iu  Eden,  75. 

Garden  in  Eden  signifies  intelligence  in 
love,  72,  73. 

Garden,  analogy  between  it  and  the 
mind,  85. 

Genesis,  first  chapter  of,  a  history  of  the 
rise  and  attainment  of  manhood,  14. 

Genesis,  first  and  second  chapters,  opinion 
as  to  how  they  should  be  considered,  9. 

Genesis,  chapters  i.  and  ii.,  the  peculiar 
distinction  of  the  narratives,  58,  59. 

Genus  of  the  people  among  whom  mytho- 
logical history  was  constructed,  20. 

Genus  of  the  people  among  whom  the 
antediluvian  history  was  written,  26. 

Geology,  the  results  of  its  teachings,  5. 

Geology,  the  demands  of  it,  8. 

Geology  proves  the  earth  to  have  expe- 
rienced great  convulsions,  316. 

Giants  mentioned  in  the  Scriptures,  273. 

Giants  as  to  character,  275. 

Gihon,  its  signification,  etc.,  91. 

God,  the  Spirit  of,  moving  on  the  face  of 
the  waters,  33. 


God  operates  by  laws,  327. 

"  God  said.  Let  us  make  man,"  consid- 
ered, 60. 

God  ending  his  work,  and  resting,  what 
are  these,  56. 

God  not  a  destroyer,  349. 

God  desires  that  men  should  understand 
his  word,  218. 

God  changeth  not,  280. 

God's  providence,  mistaken  notions  re- 
specting it,  280. 

God's  interposition  to  preserve  man,  284. 

Gold,  its  signification,  90. 

Goodness  and  wisdom  essential  to  inno- 
cence, 186. 

Gopher  wood,  opinions  about  it,  and  its 
signification,  297,  298. 

Ground  the  external  man,  160. 

Ground,  the  tilling  of  it,  175. 

Grace  and  righteousness  of  Noah,  304. 

Guilt,  its  progress  illustrated,  147. 


Havilah,  conjectures  respecting,  90. 

Help  meet  for  Adam,  113. 

Heaven  and  earth,  the  meaning  of,  31. 

Hiddekel,  its  signification,  92. 

Hills,  high,  covered,  350. 

Heresies,  prolific,  226. 

Heresies,  their  tendency,  202. 

History  to  be  traced  to  the  first  Olym- 
piad, 21. 

History  of  mundane  things  would  not 
advance  our  spiritual  knowledge,  63. 

Human  remains,  320. 

Hypotheses  concerning  the  strata  of  the 
earth,  7. 

Hypotheses  which  have  been  held  con- 
cerning the  initial  verses  of  Genesis,  10. 


Ideas,  general  and  particular,  254. 
Illustrations  from  mythology  concerning 

the    origin    of   extraordinary  persons, 

116. 
Immunities  of  Protestant  Christendom,  4. 
Influx,  the  meaning  of,  343. 
Inequality  of  the  supposed  curse  on  the 

land,  158. 
Ingenuity  employed  to  defend  the  doc- 
trine of  faith  alone,  172. 
Initial  verses  of  Genesis,  opinions  about 

them,  10. 
Infernal  influences,  206. 
Instruction   by  an   internal  dictate,  and 

by  external  documents,  286. 
Innocence  of  two  kinds,  1S6. 
Interpretation  necessary,  3. 
Interpretation,    modern,    of    the    flood, 

321. 
Inventions  to   remove  the  difiiculties  of 

the  letter,  13. 
Israelitish  history,  its  commencement  and 

design,  24. 


374 


INDEX. 


Josephus,  his  opinion  of  some  of  the 
writings  of  Moses,  20. 

Jesus  Christ  the  son  of  God  in  a  pre- 
eminent sense,  268. 


Knowledge,  the  tree  of,  77,  82,  83. 
Knowledge  of  spiritual  things  the  result 
of  revelation,  14:3,  144. 


Land,  dry,  41. 

Lamb,  Dr.,  eited,  25. 

Lamb  the  symbol  of  innocence,  187. 

Lamech,  the  signification  of  his  speech  to 
his  two  wives,  227. 

Lameehs,  two,  230. 

Law,  the  broken,  140. 

Lawful  to  see  the  forbidden  fruit,  145. 

Learned  criticism,  facts  established  by,  19. 

Learned  men  have  abandoned  long- 
standing opinions  concerning  the  early 
portion  of  Genesis,  6. 

Learned  men  not  agreed  about  an  ex- 
planation of  the  narrative  of  the  flood, 
313,  317,  318,  319. 

Light  before  the  sun,  theories  about  it,  9. 

Light,  truth,  called  day,  37. 

Lights,  two  great,  what  they  are,  42,  43. 

Light  of  stars  that  have  reached  our  earth 
prove  their  great  antiquity,  43. 

Living  things  destroyed,  349,  350. 

Longevity,  theories  respecting  it,  238,  239. 

Longevity  of  opinions,  248. 

Longevity  predicated  of  the  line  of  Seth, 
248. 

Lord,  the,  speaks  to  men  by  an  internal 
dictate,   198. 

Lord  speaking  to  the  serpent,  154. 

Lyell  cited  on  the  antiquity  of  man,  318, 
319. 

Lusts,  267,  269. 

Luther's  statement  concerning  faith  and 
the  commandments,  170. 


Male  characteristics,  51,  268. 

Male  and  female  to  be  taken   into  the 

ark,  310. 
Man  ignorant  and  innocent,  31, 
Man,  what  by  original  creation,  32. 
Man,  how  regenerated,  35. 
Man  viewed  under  different  aspects,  49. 
Man  as  an  image  of  God,  60. 
Man  required  to  think  and  reason,  292. 
Man  blessed,  61. 

Man,  how  he  becomes  spiritual,  55. 
Man  associated  with  spiritual  beings,  332. 
Man,  Adam,  a  community,  65,  66,  67. 
Man  the  author  of  evil,  131. 
Man  as  man,  and  as  a  husband,  15S. 
Man's  prerogative,  52. 
Man's  lowest  nature,  its  tendency,  128. 
Man's  days  120  years,  241. 


Mark  set  upon  Cain,  curious  conjectures 

concerning  it,  214. 
Mark,  Scripture  instances  of  setting  a, 

215. 
Marriage  of  affection  and  opinion,  225. 
Marriage  a  Divine  institution,  264. 
Men  called  gods,  268. 
Men  reason  in  favour  of  what  they  love, 

269. 
Men,  of  renown,  277. 
Men,  mighty,  276. 
Men,  how  they  pass  into  crime,  146. 
Mental    characteristics   of  the    antedilu- 
vians, 261. 
Mercy  of  the    Lord    twofold,  of  wisdom 

and  of  love,  281,  282,  284,  285. 
Metals,  their  signification,  298. 
Mind,  rise  of,  out  of  darkness,  1. 
Mind  a  microcosm,  1. 
Miller,  Hugh,  his  theory,  11. 
Mind,  degrees  of,  88. 
Mind  consists  of  will  and  understanding, 

296. 
Miracle,  the  flood  nowhere  so  called,  330, 

331. 
Moral  evil  induces  natural  death,  357. 
Mythological  and  traditional  intimations 

of  the  deluge,  22. 


Nakedness  without  shame,  116. 

Name,  to  call  by  a,  106. 

Names  of  individuals  frequently  express 
the  idea  of  communities,  163. 

Names  of  places  significant,  85. 

Names  of  animals  founded  on  some  of 
their  characteristics,  103,  104. 

Natural  and  spiritual  laws,  201. 

Nephilim,  275. 

New  states  induced  upon  the  Noachic  peo- 
ple, 261,  262. 

Noah,  his  grace  and  righteousness,  357. 

Nod,  the  land  of,  its  meaning  illustrated, 
219,  224. 

Night  excluded  from  the  meaning  of  the 
term  day,  38. 

Numbers  signify  spiritual  ideas,  243,  247. 

Number  666  illustrated,  243. 

Numbers  10  and  12,  258,  259. 


Objects  of  Christian  faith  said  to  be  mys- 
terious, 172. 

Objections  urged  of  weight  only  against 
men's  opinions,  not  against  the  docu- 
ments, 27. 

Offerings  of  Cain  and  Abel  the  first  inti- 
mations of  Divine  worship  ;  what  those 
offerings  were,  179. 

Offerings  under  the  ceremonial  law,  types, 
180. 

Offerings  of  Cain  and  Abel  not  like  those 
of  the  Jewish  sacrifices,  187. 

Omnipotence  has  its  laws,  328,  329. 


INDEX. 


375 


Old  views  uprooted,  13. 
Origen,  his  opinion  cited,  21. 


Parallelism  between  the  flood  and  other 
events  recorded  in  Scripture,  347. 

Passages  from  the  Word  illustrating  the 
signification  of  numbers,  242,  259. 

Passages  from  the  Word  in  which  floods 
are  mentioned  which  are  not  floods  of 
water,  337. 

Parable  of  Jotham  illustrated,  80. 

Peter's  reference  to  the  deluge  considered, 
347. 

People  of  whose  origin  there  is  no  his- 
tory, 66. 

People,  why  they  did  not  seek  for  safety 
in  the  ark  when  the  waters  rose,  293. 

Perception  and  its  use,  250. 

Peculiarity  in  the  character  of  the  Adamic 
people,  255. 

Phrat,  its  signification,  93. 

Piety  necessary  to  Scripture  interpreta- 
tion, 3. 

Pison,  its  signification,  89.    ' 

Pison  and  Gihon  unknown,  88. 

Populace,  what  they  have  been  taught  to 
believe  on  the  subject  of  the  deluge, 
314. 

Population,  supposed,  at  the  time  of  the 
flood,  321. 

Pratt  (Archdeacon,  of  Calcutta),  his  re- 
mark on  the  seventh  day,  15. 

Pratt's,  Archdeacon,  view  of  the  designs 
of  Scripture,  6. 

Presence  of  the  Lord,  going  from  the,  220. 

Predestination  and  grace,  controversies 
about  them,  234. 

Predestination,  correct  ideas  about  it,  233. 

Profane  use  of  the  Word,  269. 

Profanation,  what  it  is,  275. 

Progress  of  guilt  illustrated,  147. 


Rain  could  not  produce  a  universal  inun- 
dation, 340. 

Rain,  passages  of  Scripture  illustrated  in 
•  which  the  word  occurs,  343,  344. 

Rain,  forty  days  and  forty  nights  of,  345. 

Rain  denotes  influx,  342,  343. 

Rationale  of  Adam's  fall,  146. 

Remains,  what,  and  how  their  safety  was 
provided  for,  242,  258,  354. 

Records,  early,  of  Genesis  cannot  be  his- 
tory, 13. 

Reasonings  of  criminals,  199. 

Regeneration  before  and  after  the  fall,  65. 

Regeneration,  how  its  early  states  are 
built  up  with  something  selfish,  299. 

Religious  dissensions,  their  origin,  190, 
193. 

Religion  endangered  by  evil  lives,  210. 

Religion  as  the  result  of  perceptions, 
218. 


Redemption  provided  against  the  recur- 
rence of  obsessions,  355. 

Repentance  and  grief  of  man,  not  of  the 
Lord,  279,  280. 

Repentance  and  grief  of  the  Divine 
mercy,  281. 

Reptiles  never  endowed  with  the  capa- 
bility of  speech,  118. 

Reptiles  denote  grovelling  pursuits,  353. 

Rhind,  Mr.,  his  opinion  as  to  rain  pro- 
ducing the  deluge,  340. 

Resemblance  between  some  points  in 
mythology  and  some  in  the  early  parts 
of  Genesis,  21. 

Revelation  makes  us  acquainted  with 
spiritual  things,  54. 

Richness  of  ancient  Egyptian  soil,  159. 

Rival  parties  in  religion,  their  bitterness 
illustrated,  190. 

Rivers  the  symbols  of  wisdom,  86. 

Rivers,  mythological  intimations  respect- 
ing some,  86. 

River  of  Eden  parted  into  four  heads,  95. 


Sabbath,  a  representative  institution,  16. 
Sacrifice  of  animals  in  itself  irrational,  99. 
Science,  the  facts  of,  inconsistent  with  the 

Mosaic  cosmogony,  6. 
Scriptures,    two    modes   of   speaking   of 

them,  27,  28. 
Senses  inlets  for  certain  knowledge,  122. 
Senses,  their  deception,  129. 
Sensual  principle,  its  subtlety,  136. 
Seed  to  be  kept  alive,  310. 
Sects  in  the  Adamic  Church  illustrated, 

229. 
Sevens  and  twos,  309. 
Seventh  day  a  celestial  state  with  man,  54. 
Seventh    day   cannot  mean  the  seventh 

day  in  the  ordinary  acceptation  of  the 

word,  56. 
Seventh  day  called  the  Sabbath,  how  it  is 

holy,  15,  57,  58. 
Seventh   day,  why  no  labour  was  to  be 

done  thereon,  57. 
Separation  of  the  will  from   the  under- 
standing, 262. 
Serpent,    the,    and    its    deceptions,   118, 

129. 
vSerpent  which  poured  out  water  as  a  flood, 

338. 
Serpent,  as  a  symbol,  illustrated  from  his- 
tory, 123,  124,  125. 
Serpent,  the  sensual  principle,  illustrated, 

126. 
Serpents,  the  power  to  take  them  up  and 

to  tread  upon  them,  134. 
Serpents  which  the  rod  of  Aaron  and  the 

rods  of  the  magicians  became,  134,  135. 
Serpent  of  brass,  135. 
Seth  instead  of  Abel,  236. 
Seth  significant  of  anew  faith,  237. 
Shepherd,  its  signification,  177. 


INDEX. 


Six  days'  work,  epitome  of  its  meaning, 

70. 
Six  days'  creation,  what  it  was,  53. 
Simplicity  of  the  Word,  28. 
Smith,  Dr.  Pye,  cited,  23,  24,  319. 
South,  Dr.,  on  man's  understanding  in 

paradise,  75, 
Spiritual  intelligence  the  main  purpose  of 

Grod's  communication  to  men,  14. 
Spirit  of  Lord  striving,  270. 
Spiritual  sense  of  the  early  chapters  of 

Genesis  their  only  sense,  64. 
Sons  of  God,  what  they  are  considered 

to  have  been,  263. 
Sons  of  God  seeing  the  daughters  of  men 

to  be  fair,  269. 
Streams,  their  signification,  86, 
Suffocating  influx  among  the   antedilu- 
vians, 355. 
Summary  of  histories,  358, 


Teachers  of  truth,  builders  of  the  city  of 

God,  235, 
Ten  commandments,  259. 
Temptations,  their  nature  explained  and 

illustrated,  333. 
Temptations  treated  of  under  the  figure 

of  the  flood,  332. 
Theories  about  light  before  the  sun,  9. 
Theories  of  interpretation,  10,  11,  12,  13. 
Thorns  and  thistles,  what  they  signify, 

160. 
Tilling  the  ground,  175,  201. 
Transgression  produces  doubts,  223. 
Traditions  of  the  deluge  considered,  323. 
Tradition  and  science  do  not  afford  any 

materials  for  explaining  the  flood  to 

have  been  a  natural  phenomenon,  326. 
Trees  of  the  garden,  opinions  concerning 

them,  76. 
Trees,  the  general  signification  of,  78. 
Trees  of  life  and  knowledge,  77,  82,  83. 
Tree  of  life  still  extant,  84, 
Type  and  antitype,  348. 


Understanding  and  will  separated,  169. 

Universal  destruction  of  some  sort  in- 
tended to  be  described  by  the  deluge, 
314. 


Universality  of  the  flood  relinquished  by 
scholars  before  geology  became  a  sci- 
ence, 319. 

Use  of  knowing  where  Eden  was,  68,  69. 


Various  principles  in  man,  120. 

Vengeance  to  be  taken  of  those  who  slew 
Cain,  211. 

Vegetables  not  named  by  Adam,  why, 
104. 

Ventilation  of  the  ark,  difficulties  con- 
cerning it,  290. 

Vision  of  dry  bones,  115. 

Volcanoes  extinct,  ancient,  in  the  south  of 
France,  318. 


Waters  gathered  together,  what,  40. 

Waters  denote  knowledges,  40. 

Waters  that  become  seas,  41, 

Waters  commanded  to  bring  forth  crea- 
tures that  have  life,  46. 

Wisdom  communicated  by  an  internal 
dictate,  96. 

Wiseman,  Dr.,  cited,  23. 

Wise  and  friendly  character  of  revelation, 
29. 

Wicked,  the,  can  be  clever,  209. 

Wife  of  Cain,  225. 

Will  and  understanding  separated,  169. 

Will,  how  it  became  a  lust,  278. 

Wives,  the  choice  of,  264. 

Windows  of  heaven,  339,  340,  341,  342. 

Womsin's  desire  towards  her  husband,  156. 

Woman  the  type  of  affection,  225. 

Woman  the  selfhood  of  the  man,  157. 

Woman,  the  multiplication  of  her  sorrows 
in  conception,  150,  155. 

AVords,  their  signification,  298. 

Word  for  all  time  and  all  men,  219. 

Word  of  God  a  work  of  God,  289. 

Words  in  the  Bible  have  a  signification 
frequently  different  from  their  giam- 
matical  meaning,  2. 

AVorship,  its  acceptance  and  rejection, 189. 

Writing,  different  styles  of,  1. 


Years  and  numbers,  246. 
Youth,  spiritual,  245. 


The  Church's  One  Foundation* 

By  rev.  B.  F.  BARRETT. 
Price,  75  cents. 


The  New  York  Independent  says  of  it  : 

"These  sermons  will  appeal  to  a  wide  company  of  readers  outside  of  the 
New  Church,  to  whose  uiinistry  the  author  belonged.  They  are  gentle  and 
catholic  in  spirit,  take  a  strong  hold  on  the  readt-r's  conscience  and  in  his 
relations  to  present  duty,  and  are  composed  in  an  attractive  literary  style." 

The  Kingdom  says  of  it : 

"This  volume  of  sermons  by  an  eminent  minister  of  the  New  Church 
(Swedeuborgiani  is  one  of  the  most  spiritually  and  practically  helpful  which 
has  come  to  our  table. 

"  There  are  many  who  have  an  entirely  false  understanding  of  the  teach- 
ings of  Emanuel  Swedenborg,  and  think  that  he  was  intent  mainly  on  setting 
forth  his  ideas  concerning  the  heavenly  state.  Such  persons  should  read  this 
little  volume." 

The  Neiv  Unity  says  of  it  : 

"The  dedication  of  this  book  expresses  the  spirit  of  the  man  who  preached 
the  sermons.  It  reads:  'To  all  God's  children,  of  every  laith  and  every 
creed,  and  to  those  also  who  as  yet  have  found  no  faith  and  no  creed  to 
satisfy  them,  this  volume  is  affectionately  dedicated.' 

"They  are  simple,  direct,  and  strong  expressions  of  what  truths  the 
preacher  prepared  ibr  his  own  people  when  he  was  in  the  pastorate.  Besides 
having  a  value  of  their  own,  they  are  a  help  to  the  understanding  of  the  in- 
fluence of  Swedenborg's  teachings  over  a  great  and  free  mind.     .     .     ." 

The  Church  Union  says  of  it : 

"Swedenborg's  position  is  now  well  established  as  one  who  has  helped, 
more  than  any  other  man,  perhaps,  in  preparing  the  world  for  a  rational,  as 
opposed  to  a  scholastic,  view  of  Ciiristianity.  The  key  to  his  teachings  is 
afforded  by  this  sentence  from  his  pen,  which  he  reiterated  and  illustrated  in 
a  thousand  ways  :  ^  All  religion  has  relation  to  the  life,  and  the  life  of  religion 
is  to  do  good. ' 

"  Mr.  Barrett's  sermons  are  an  unfolding  and  illustration  of  the  same  great 
truth.  .  .  .  His  style  is  earnest,  direct,  and  clear.  Among  all  the 
volumes  of  sermons  that  are  now  being  published,  it  will  be  difficult  to  find 
any  that  are  more  truly  edifying— that  is,  helpful  to  the  spiritual  life — than 
these." 

SWEDENBORG  PUBLISHING  ASSOCIATION, 

GERMANTOWN,  PA. 


The  Word  and  Its  Inspiration 

Can  be  procured  for  fl.OO  at  the  following  places  (it  will  be  sent  by  mail  for 
the  same  price)  : 

SWEDENBORG  PUBLISHING  ASSOCIATION, 

42  West  Coulter  St.,  Germantown,  Pa. 

NEW  CHURCH  BOOK  ROOM, 

16  Arlington  St.,  Boston,  Mass. 

NEW  CHURCH  BOOK  ROOM, 

3  West  29th  St.,  New  York,  N.  Y. 

NEW  CHURCH  BOOK  ROOM, 

2129  Chestnut  St.,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

WESTERN  NEW  CHURCH  UNION, 

901-902  Steinway  Hall,  Chicago,  III. 


From  Different  Points  of  View* 

Price,  50  cents. 


An  English  Reviewer  says  of  this  book  : 

"  We  heartily  and  confidently  commend  this  book  as  containing  a  forcible 
and  logical  presentation  of  New  Church  truth  ;  as  encouraging  independence 
of  thought  and  action  ;  and  as  promoting  a  bold,  comprehensive,  affirmative 
Christianity  of  a  thoroughly  practical  and  social  nattae." 

The  Literary  News  says  of  it : 

"It  presents  in  an  interesting  manner  the  leading  features  of  the  New 
Church  teaching  as  distinguished  from  that  of  other  churches.  The  presen- 
tation of  New  Church  truths  is  logical  and  forcil)le.  It  points  out  the  en- 
couragement this  church  gives  to  independence  of  thought  and  action." 

The  New  Unity  says  of  it  : 

"  This  little  book  not  only  gives  a  glimpse  of  a  great  soul  and  an  interest- 
ing life,  but  helps  one  to  understand  more  fully  the  religious  movements  of 
our  times.  No  one  can  fully  understand  the  new  orthodoxy  without  under- 
standing something  of  the  influence  of  Swedenborg  in  the  modern  pulpit  ; 
an  influence  greater  and  more  extended  than  any  man  unacquainted  with 
the  facts  is  willing  to  admit." 

The  Church  Union  says  of  it : 

"  This  is  at  once  an  interesting  sketch  of  an  interesting  life,  and  a  partial 
exposition  of  the  spiritual  truths  to  the  elucidation  of  which  the  life  was 
ardently  consecrated.  The  Swedenborgian  philosophy  has  had  many  able 
exponents,  but  none  more  able  and  useful  than  Mr.  Barrett.  Underneath  all 
his  writings  (which  were  many  and  varied)  there  was  one  continual  purpose 
— namely,  to  show  that  Swedenborg  never  intended  or  expected  that  his  phi- 
losophy would  become  the  basis  of  a  new  sect,  but  that  it  would  permeate  and 
influence  the  religious  thinking  of  all  classes  of  Christians.  It  has  done  so 
to  an  extent  that  can  not  be  measured  or  imagined,  and  Mr.  Barrett's  untir- 
ing labors  probably  contributed  more  than  those  of  any  other  preacher  and 
writer  to  this  result." 

The  Chicago  Tribune  saj^s  of  it : 

"  It  will  amply  repay  any  reader  who  desires  acquaintance  with  a  beauti- 
ful and  little  understood  doctrine,  or  with  a  character  which  is  in  itself  the 
best  exemplar  of  what  this  doctrine  may  result  in  when  carried  from  precept 
to  practice." 

Light  on  the  Problems  of  Life  and  Death. 

BY 

REV.  J.  M.  SHEPHERD. 


Price,  25  cents;  postage,  3  cents. 


A  Methodist  minister  says  of  it : 

"I  have  read  with  intense  interest  'Light  on  the  Problems  of  Life  and 
Death.'  It  is  characterized  by  mental  and  spiritual  virility  and  must  impart 
its  life  to  others." 

A  Baptist  minister  says  of  it : 

"To  every  seeker  after  truth  it  will  furnish  interesting  and  profitable 
reading." 

SWEDENBORG  PUBLISHING  ASSOCIATION, 

GERMANTOWN,  PA. 


Kindly  Light  in  Prayer  and  Praise* 

II Y 

PASTOR   QUIET. 
Price,  60  cents ;   8  cents  postage. 


WHAT   SOME   OF    ITS    READERS    SAY   OF    IT. 

Frances  E.  Willard  said  of  it  : 

"  If  all  of  us  could  really  hold  these  thoughts  steadily,  we  should  fiud 
ourselves  so  panoplied  that  no  harm  could  ever  reach  us.     It  seems  to  me 
one  might  well  afford  to  sell  all  and  buy  this  blessed  immunity. 
A  sweet  hopeful  book  like  this  is  the  best  medicine  for  the  spirit  in  a  sorrow- 
ful experience." 

Theodore  F.  Seward  says  of  it  : 

"Verse  and  prose  are  full  of  aspiration  and  inspiration.  Concerning  the 
style,  it  may  be  said  to  have  the  quaintness  of  George  Herbert  and  the  de- 
votional spirit  of  Thomas  i\  Kempis,  combined  with  the  scientific  thought  of 
the  Nineteenth  Century." 

Professor  Nathaniel  Schmidt  says  of  it  : 

"  It  is  like  the  ebb  and  flow  of  the  tide,  like  the  song  of  the  bird  and  its 
echo.  There  is  so  much  of  deep  and  genuine  religious  life  in  this  book  that 
every  man  who  looks  to  the  fostering  and  sound  development  of  the  religious 
impulse  as  the  chief  means  of  lifting  mankind  again,  will  hail  it  with  de- 
light.    It  is  eminently  a  book  for  the  seeking  soul  and  for  the  weary  heart." 

A  Presbyterian  minister  says  of  it : 

"  It  is  a  delightful  book  from  the  twentieth  century's  Thomas  k 
Kempis. ' ' 

The  Neiv  Unity  says  of  it : 

"In  so  effective  and  winning  a  manner  does  the  author  entice  us  along  the 
upward  path  that  it  is  a  little  hard  to  follow  his  advice  and  lay  the  book 
aside  after  reading  one  meditation,  taking  the  thought  in  that  single  one  to 
ponder  upon,  and  leaving  the  rest  for  another  quiet  time. 

"The  opening  poem  and  many  of  the  others  are  simply  classics  of  their 
kind,  worthy  of  being  classed  with  Faber's  Hymns,  and  fit  to  be  sung  in  any 
sanctuary,  from  that  in  the  humblest  human  heart  to  the  loftiest  cathedral 
built  hj  man." 

The  Outlook  says  of  it  : 

"A  book  of  meditation  and  devotion,  written  with  genuine  spiritual 
insight." 

LEAFLETS. 

No.  I,  Spiritual  Recompense;  2,  Hell-Fire — What  is  it?  3,  True 
Charity;  4,  Ends  and  Uses  ;  5,  The  Use  of  Prayer;  6,  The  Life  of  Re- 
ligion ;  7,  The  Higher  Life ;  8,  The  New  Birth  ;  9,  Children  after  Death ; 
10,  The  New  Church;  11,  The  Divine  Trinity;  12,  Swedenborg;  13, 
Swedenborg's  Writings  ;  14,  Catholicity ;  15,  Marriage  and  the  Sexes  ; 
16,  Key  to  the  Spiritual  Sense  ;  17,  The  Church  that  is  to  Be  ;  18,  What 
Can  I  Do  ? — I  am  Poor.     Price,  8  cents  a  set,  three  sets  for  twenty  cents. 

Address  THE  SWEDENBORG  PUBLISHINQ  ASSOCIATION, 

Qermantown,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 


GOD  WINNING  US. 

BY 

REV.  CLARENCE  LATHBURY. 


Price,  40  cents. 


A  clear  and  simple  statement  of  Our  Father's  method  of 
dealing  with  His  children,  which,  if  carefully  considered,  will 
prove  most  helpful  in  teaching  us  how  to  deal  with  our  chil- 
dren and  with  each  other. 

Some  of  its  cha})ters  are  : 

God  Accommodating  Himself  to  Us (Incarnation) 

God  Winning  Us (Atonement) 

God  Opening  Our  Eyes (Faith) 

God  Growing  in  Us (Regeneration) 

God  Acting  Through  Us (Religion) 

God  Caking  fob  Us (Providence) 


HELPFUL  PAMPHLETS. 

"  THE  CHURCH  THAT  IS  TO  BE."  A  Pastor's  plea  for  a  broader  re- 
ligion.    Price,  1  cent  ;  20  copies  10  cents. 

'«THE  LIBERAL  MINISTER'S  PLACE."  Price,  2  cents;  30  cents 
per  100. 

"  A  LOVE  LETTER."  A  plea  for  only  the  Saviour's  requirements  for 
full  Christian  fellowship.     Price,  2  cents  ;  30  cents  per  100. 

"CHEERFULNESS  A  RELIGIOUS  DUTY."     Price,  3  cents. 

"  TO  MY  BISHOP."  Part  of  a  letter  written  by  a  priest  of  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church.     Price,  3  cents. 

"THE  ONLY  INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  BIBLE,"  which  deprives 
the  Higher  Criticism  of  all  power  to  disturb,  and  proves  the  book 
to  be  The  Word  of  God.  consistent  in  every  part  and  worthy  of  Divine 
authorship.     Price,  3  cents. 

SWEDENBORG,  PUBLISHING  ASSOCIATION, 

CERMANTOWN.   PA. 


